Pyrus Virus
by DuskStarDragon
Summary: The Autobots have ajusted to life on Earth and are now acting as Sari's guardians until they find her father. Things as going well. That is until one day, Bumblebee started to act unusual. Time is not on their side as they try to figure out whats going on
1. Shock to Your System

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights, characters or plots associated with Transformers Animated or the Transformers' Continuum or Universes (I really, REALLY wish I did). I do, however, own the characters and plots that I come up with. If you steal them, you will spontaneously combust from your guilt and I will laugh evilly.

Now that's over…

Hello and welcome to my third fiction about the Transformers' Universe. I was and still am a huge fan of G1 and Beast Wars (Season 1 and half of 2… don't ask). When I first saw Transformers Animated advertised, I was a little off put by the design and concept. I gave it a try and I was hooked. It's taken me awhile to write because I decided to watch the whole thing through and see where things went before I started to randomly write. I'm rather pleased with the storyline and outcome at the end (though a little sad). So, this is the product of me waiting for the end.

This story takes place during season 2 when Sari is living with the Autobots, just after the Elite Guard shows up.

Also, my policies on reviews before I turn you lose. They can be good or bad, long or short, it doesn't matter. I only ask that you don't say that it sucks or that I suck and should never write again… yeah, I've gotten one of those before. So please do enjoy.

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**Chapter One: Shock to Your System**

"I win! I win! I win again," Sari jumped up and down at her twelfth victory.

"No fair," Bumblebee threw down the controller, "my controller wasn't working."

"It won't now," Bulkhead picked it up by the cord.

The front panel was cracked with some wires projecting out of it and the joystick hung loosely from its proper place. Two or three of the buttons had flown off when Bumblebee threw it and now were lost amongst the piles of trash that surrounded the three. It had only been two hours and yet they still managed to make a mess that would have taken a normal person about a week to build up.

"Optimus is not going to be happy when he finds out that you broke another controller," Bulkhead watched the remains of the controller drop to the ground.

"It's okay," Bumblebee began to panic, "I'll just put this here," he tried to push the cord back in, "and screw that back in," he twisted the joystick, "and replace those," he placed some random pieces plastic where the buttons should be, "and all I need is some tape for that minor scratch," he indicated to the large crack that seemed to be getting bigger.

"Need some tape for what," a firm and annoyed voice came over the three.

"Oh nothing," Bumblebee turned around quickly, while hiding the controller behind his back.

It was Optimus and he didn't seem please. His eyes followed the line of the garbage piles that littered the floor and oil barrels thrown aside without care. Then his stare went from Bulkhead to Sari and finally rested on Bumblebee.

"What," he asked innocently.

"I asked you three to clean up this place an hour ago," Optimus sighed, "and it looks like there's more than ever now."

"We started to clean up," Sari began to explain, "but we got bored and took a break… that lasted a little, itty, bitty longer than we wanted to…," she tried to look as sad and pitiful as she could.

It didn't work.

"I think you've made an even bigger mess," Optimus became stern, "I expect that when I ask you to do something, you will do it. Not because I ask, but because you know it's the right thing to do. Now, I want you to turn off the TV and finish cleaning up this… what do you humans called it… a peg pen?"

"I think you mean Pig Pen," Sari corrected him.

"Finish cleaning up this 'pig pen' and I want it done before I get back," Optimus ran his hand down his face.

"Going out again Boss Bot," Bumblebee asked.

"Apparently Ratchet decided to sleep in front of a fire hydrant again," he explained, "and the police tried to tow him away… again."

"So he's making a big deal in front of a lot of people again," Sari finished for him.

"Exactly," Optimus nodded his head, "Captain Fanzone is already there and they're having a yelling match…"

"Again," Sari, Bumblebee and Bulkhead said at the same time.

"I'm going down there to cool the situation," he turned to exit, "and I want this place…"

"Cleaned up before you get back," all three said in unison with same monotone voice.

Optimus sighed, but tried to sound as stern as he could, "I mean it. By the time I get back with Ratchet, I want this place spotless."

With that, he transformed and headed out the open garage door. All three of them watched him disappear from sight and breathed a sigh of relief.

"You're lucky he didn't notice the controller," Bulkhead looked to Bumblebee.

"Yeah, otherwise my servos would have been in the trash heap… along with the rest of me," he began to envision his doom at the hands of Optimus.

"It's no problem Bee," Sari held up her Key, "we'll just fix it."

"Alright," Bumblebee cheered, "do your thing Sari!"

Sari smiled as she ran to the game console. Bulkhead carefully grasped it so Sari could insert her Key into the back panel. Holding the Key to the system, she waited for it to start glowing and change into the proper form so she could insert it. The Key, however, showed no sign that is was going to be doing anything anytime soon.

"Oh man! Oh man," Bumblebee began to panic as he paced the floor, "it isn't GOOD!"

"Settled down little buddy," Bulkhead picked him up, "we'll figure out something."

"You're right Bulkhead," Bumblebee sighed, "we just have to keep calm and hide this from Optimus until we get it fixed."

"You should just be honest and tell him the truth," a voice echoed in the room.

"Says you," Bumblebee was annoyed, "you're always the one lurking around in the shadows, acting like you've got something to hide… Prowl."

Seemingly appearing out of nowhere, Prowl entered the room, "well it's the truth. Instead of hiding your mistake, you should be open with Optimus and admit that you did something wrong. Hiding it will only make it worse for you."

"I think someone has been a hanging around with Optimus a little too much," Bumblebee whispered to Bulkhead and Sari.

They both nodded their heads in agreement.

"Say what you will," Prowl kept his calm demeanor, "but Optimus will find out sooner or later and then you'll be in big trouble."

"You're not going to tell him… are you," Bumblebee was growing more concerned.

Prowl paused for a moment in the doorway, "it's not my mistake to admit. That's up to you and you alone."

With that he left the three to ponder his words or at least ponder their fate. Bumblebee looked down at the controller, then to where Prowl exited. He shook his head, like he was getting back to his senses.

"For a moment there, I felt like I should tell the Boss Bot what happen," he looked down at the controller again.

"Then you realized that wasn't an option," Sari seemed to read his mind.

"Exactly," Bumblebee raised his finger, "that's why we're not going to tell him and I mean everyone here."

"What about Prowl," Bulkhead asked.

"I think he meant it when he said he wouldn't," Bumblebee wasn't sure himself, "but for now, it will be our little secret."

"Right," Sari and Bulkhead whispered in agreement.

The pact was set; none would speak of what happen, none would admit if the controller was found; their lips would be sealed. No matter the interrogation, no matter the torture, they would see it through and through.

Without another word, Bulkhead and Sari went to work on the trash piles while Bumblebee hid the evidence in his room. He joined them and soon the trash was off the floor. It was surprising to them that they finished so quickly. Then again, they did just push the trash to the back of the building. But the floor was clean, just like Optimus wanted and he wouldn't be back for at least another half an hour.

"So… what do we do now," Bulkhead scratched his head.

"We figure out how to fix you know what," Bumblebee briefly looked towards it the direction of his room.

"I found the buttons," Bulkhead held the three tiny pieces of plastic out.

"That's a start," Bumblebee quickly grabbed them.

"But how do we get it back together," Sari pondered out loud.

"How about the Internet," Bulkhead suggested, "there's all sorts of things on there."

"You're on fire today big buddy," Bumblebee sped off to get the busted controller.

"I am," Bulkhead started to check himself over in a panic.

"It's a saying," Sari laughed.

"Oh… so I'm not on fire," he was still checking himself.

"Nope," Bumblebee appeared, "but I am," placed his finger on his skid plate, "sizzle. See, nothing's hotter than me."

"Enough talk, we need instructions on how to fix this mess," Sari wanted to get it over with.

Bumblebee picked her up and put her on his shoulder, while Bulkhead headed for the computer console. He started to type in the query box of the search line. He hit enter and the computer started to search for the closest matches. It was going a little too slow for Bumblebee and he started to tap his foot impatiently. Finally a page full of matches came up on the screen.

"Hmm… which one," Bulkhead started to look through them.

"Oh, that one," Sari noticed the first one, "it's from a guy that worked for the console company!"

"No! No, that one," Bumblebee read the one below it, "it says "Fix Your Broken Controllers at Home". That sounds like exactly what we need."

"That's for the older model," Sari pointed out.

They started to argue back and forth on which one was the better one to use. Bulkhead just there, listening to the growing yelling match. He was more or less getting annoyed with them, but there was nothing he could say that would end it.

There was one thing that did stop them, the sound of the garage door opening.

"Whoa… Optimus is getting faster," Bumblebee was a little shocked, but realized that they had to once again hide the controller, "I'll hide this and you get that off the screen," he ran out of the room quickly with Sari holding on for dear life.

Bulkhead exited out of the browser and tried to act casually as he could when Optimus came in.

"Impressive," Optimus looked around the main room, "you three did a great job cleaning up," he commented, "where's Bumblebee and Sari?"

"Right here," Bumblebee quickly appeared in the doorway, Sari was right behind him.

"I have to say, I thought you guys would still be cleaning up when we got back," Optimus gave a faint smirk.

"Well you know, if you put your mind to it, you can do anything," Bumblebee was trying to sound smooth.

"In this case, the three of us put our minds to it and it was done three times faster," Bulkhead added.

Optimus couldn't help but smile, "alright, I think you guys deserve some down time. Why don't you play some of those… games you like so much?"

"NO," Bumblebee freaked for a moment, but tried to gain his composure.

"I think he means that since we've been inside cleaning all day," Sari quickly jumped in, "that we going to go to the… um… um," she stumbled.

"The park," Bulkhead suggested.

"That's right," Bumblebee ran with it, "we promised Sari that we would take her to the park after we were done."

"That's a pleasant change of pace," Prowl appeared from behind Optimus.

"It's a little strange if you ask me," Ratchet came through the still open garage.

"Hmm," Optimus started to ponder the odd behavior.

Prowl folded his arms, "I think it a good idea to experience this organic world, instead of staying inside. Besides, Sari could use some interaction with other humans."

"Agreed," Optimus nodded his head, "alright you three. Head on out, but don't stay out to late."

"You got it," Bumblebee was still nervous as he transformed, "come on Sari, let's go to the park," he sounded more mechanical than usual.

"Okay Bumblebee," she seemed to imitate his tone.

"You Coming Bulkhead," Bumblebee hinted.

"Oh yeah," he was rather casual as he transformed.

They slowly passed Optimus, Ratchet and Prowl as they proceeded to the exit. As they hit the doorway, they sped off like they had Decepticons on their tails.

"They were acting strange," Optimus pondered out loud.

"Young bots," Ratchet could only shrug his shoulders.

Turning to Prowl, Optimus asked, "did anything happen while I was gone?"

"Nothing I know of," Prowl answered simply and headed for his room.

"Hmph," Optimus joined Ratchet in a shrug.

Later that night…

"Are you sure about this," Sari whispered.

"It's the only hope we have if we're going to fix this thing," Bumblebee quietly typed in the web browser, "besides, Intel Bots do the same thing when they are gathering information."

"You're not an Intel Bot the last time I check," Sari frowned.

"The concept the same," Bumblebee angrily whispered somewhat loudly.

They both sat quietly for a few minutes, waiting to see if anyone heard them. Nobody stirred that they could tell. Sighing in unison, they turned their attention back to the screen. Again, several matches appeared to their specific query. Each wanted to go to the one they thought was the best, but either could agree on with one to use.

"Well if you're so smart, you can figure this out on your own," Sari folded her arms, "I'm going back to bed," she hopped down from the console, using some boxes as a large staircase.

"Fine, I'll just do that," Bumblebee turned his back to her.

"You do that," Sari headed for her room.

"I will," Bumblebee answered snottily.

"Fine," Sari answered back in a whisper.

"Fine," he made sure he got the last word.

Without hearing another remark from Sari, Bumblebee prepared to download the instructions from the site of his choice. Plugging the cord into the console and then the other end into his head, he clicked on the download button and the information started to flow into his head.

"This isn't too hard," Bumblebee was impressed with himself.

The instructions were almost done downloading when the screen suddenly went blank.

"Huh? What happen," he started to pull the cord.

BOOM!!! ZAP!!! BANG!!!

Bumblebee went flying into the wall. The dim light from the console was flickering and making all sorts of noises. He could only hear a loud sharp ringing as he started to power down. Sari appeared in his fading vision. She was screaming at him, but he couldn't make out what she was saying. The light went from his eyes and the world was gone.


	2. Malfunction Destruction!

*Author scratches head* I'm not sure what to do with the reviews… I rarely get a review (let alone 2) for the first chapter or if I do, it's usually after a few chapters are posted and they're going through and reviewing all of them… what to do? I suppose I could just do a shout out or two… yes, that is exactly what I will do. Many thanks go out to VeekaIzhanez and Lina Ben for being the first reviewers. I would give you guys a cookie, but I ate them all and they might not taste so good after a long shipping process. As for all those that took their time to read my story, thank you.

Until next time.

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**Chapter Two: Malfunction Destruction!**

"His systems are finally stable," Ratchet gave a sigh of relief.

"Is… Is he going to be alright," Sari asked trying to hide the tears forming in her eyes.

"He'll be fine. We'll just have to wait for him to wake up," Ratchet turned his attention back to the scan.

Sari wasn't completely convinced. There was nothing she could do though; the Key wouldn't transform to fix Bumblebee. She snuggled up close to his head and cried softly.

"Come on Sari," Bulkhead noticed her distress, "why don't you and I go get some of that Iced Cream that you like so much?"

"No thanks, I'm not hungry," Sari refused.

"Look kid, there's no use hanging around here," Ratchet explained, "he'll wake up when he wakes up."

Sari's cheeks turned red as the tears fell from her eyes, "I'll going to be here when he does! He would do the same for me. I'm not leaving his side!"

Optimus understood how she felt, "I think Ratchet means," he tried to calm her down, "that Bumblebee wouldn't want you to worry about him. He would want you to take care of yourself first."

She wiped her eyes, "you're right… he wouldn't want me to sit here crying and possibly rusting him," she looked to where some of her tears fell on him, "is the invitation for Ice Cream still open Bulkhead," she wipe the tears off Bumblebee.

"Always," Bulkhead smiled.

He held out his hand and she crawled into it. Letting her down to the ground slowly, Bulkhead and Sari exited from the Med Bay.

"You could have handled that better," Optimus was a little disappointed in Ratchet's somewhat cold attitude.

"What? I was telling her the truth," Ratchet answered with an annoyed tone, "I'm not programmed for pleasant conversation."

"Or a good bedside manner," Prowl whispered with a smirk.

"What was that," Ratchet heard him.

"Nothing," Prowl was still smirking.

"Ratchet," Optimus wasn't going to let it go any farther, "can you tell what happen to him?"

"From the damage to his circuits and servos, he received a shock and was thrown into a wall," Ratchet began to explain, "it appears to have originated from his head… considering the scorch marks," he turned Bumblebee's head to show Optimus and Prowl, "what he was doing at the console so late at night I don't know."

"I tried to find out," Prowl spoke up, "but the memory on the computer was wiped clean. There's nothing on there from the last 24 hours."

"Sari indicated that she didn't know," Optimus thought out loud, "Bulkhead didn't say anything either."

They all looked down at Bumblebee. Two pondered what he was doing. One had a good idea, though he wasn't sure what happened exactly. They could only wait for him to regain consciousness and explain what happen. That is, if he could remember.

"I'll keep working on the young bot," Ratchet finally broke the silence, "I'll let you know if I find anything."

"Thanks Ratchet," Optimus knew there was nothing left he could do, "I'm going to try to restore the computer and see if I can retrace Bumblebee's actions. Want to help Prowl?"

"I think I'll meditate for awhile on the situation," Prowl politely refused.

With that he exited the Med Bay.

"I'll never understand him," Ratchet sighed.

"I don't think we're supposes to," Optimus commented.

Ratchet mumbled something, but Optimus couldn't understand him. He just assumed that he was agreeing with him. Taking one last look down at Bumblebee, he headed for the main console that seemed to cause the accident.

Pulling up a command screen, Optimus started to search for an answer. After only a few minutes, he could see what Prowl meant. The memory was wiped clean from the last 24 hours. Even the routine systems check that he ran earlier yesterday was gone. Something had erased it, along with whatever Bumblebee was doing.

"What could he have been doing," Optimus scanned through the computer.

ALERT! ALERT! The screen started to flash a warning.

"What the? Computer begin scan," Optimus watched the screen closely.

"System overheating! Warning! System over heating," the computer continued to warn.

It was true; there did seem to be a lot of heat coming off the panel, a lot more than normal. Pulling the front panel, Optimus turned on his lights to see inside the compartment better. Instead of wires and chips, there were melted pieces of plastic and metal. Some of it was still dripping to the floor.

"Ratchet," Optimus called out, "you better take a look at this!"

"Well do you want me to fix the glitch bot or do you want me to come and look at something totally unrelated," Ratchet was obviously annoyed.

"I think you should come and see for yourself," Optimus stood up and backed away from the console.

"What? What is it Prime," he huffed as he entered the room.

"There," Optimus could only point.

"By the Allspark," Ratchet's jaw dropped.

"What… what happen to it Ratchet," Optimus asked as Ratchet bent down to get a closer look.

"I… I don't know," Ratchet dipped a finger through the melted plastic and metal, "I just don't know."

A few hours later…

"So tell me why you have all these wires running out of me again," Bumblebee wanted to yank a few out.

"DON'T touch those," Ratchet yelled, "I'm running a diagnostic on you systems. And those wires need to stay put until it's done."

"Well, when it be done," he was started to get antsy.

"It will get done, when it gets done," Ratchet tried not to shout, but was unsuccessful.

"Just a little bit longer," Optimus once again was trying to keep everyone calm.

"Young bots these days… always wanting everything done in a nanosecond," Ratchet began to mumble and rant.

"I'm just glad that you're back online," Sari smiled.

"So am I. I just wish that my servos would stop aching," Bumblebee rubbed his elbow.

"That's probably from the fact that you were thrown into a wall," Ratchet explained, "the diagnostic is done."

"So what's wrong with me Doc Bot," Bumblebee started to pull the wires out.

"The scan says," Ratchet read through the results, "nothing… nothing is wrong with you."

"Beside what was already wrong with him," Bulkhead whisper to Sari.

"I heard that," Bumblebee hissed.

"But what caused the shock that knocked him out," Optimus ignored the three, "and what could cause the wires and chips to melt like that? Surely the computer its self couldn't build up that much heat?"

Ratchet sighed, "I don't know. With all the wires melted and the system wiped clean, I can't tell what happen."

"Unless you can shed some light on the matter," Optimus looked down at Bumblebee.

"Hmm…," he was trying to think, "nope. Can't remember a thing."

Sari and Bulkhead looked to one another, which Optimus noticed.

"Is there something you two would like to talk about," Optimus asked with suspicion.

"Nope," Sari quickly answered.

"Yes," Bulkhead said at the same time.

They looked at one another.

"What's going on here," Optimus became stern.

"Yesterday, we were playing a video game and I won thirteen times," started to explain.

"Twelve actually," Bulkhead corrected her.

"Doesn't matter," Sari wanted to confess, "Bumblebee got really mad and threw down the controller. Boom! Crash! Crack," she made sound effects for her actions, "the controller broke and we all know you said that if Bumblebee broke another one you would take away the game system. We were trying to hide if from you until we were able to fix it. We went on online and found a few sites on how to fix controllers, but you came home and we couldn't fix it then. So me and Bumblebee were up late last night trying to fix it, but we couldn't agree on which instructions to use. I left him to download whatever ones he wanted…"

"Download? Do you mean to tell that he tried to directly download the information into his processor," Ratchet was somewhat shocked by what he was hearing.

"Yeah… he said Intel Bots do it all the time," Sari tried to remember the conversation.

"Intel Bots do it because their PROCESSORS ARE MADE TO DO IT," he began to yell at Bumblebee.

"What? What did I do," he sounded so innocent.

"You can drop the act Bee, they know," Sari sighed.

"I really don't know what you're talking about," he shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm not mad Bumblebee, but we need to know what happened last night when you were working on the computer and which site you were at," Optimus spoke slowly.

Bumblebee looked around in confusion, "I sorry guys, I don't know what she's talking about. Last thing I remember is doing those doughnuts in that abandoned parking lot."

"That was two days ago," Sari looked at him with the same confusion.

"You don't remember anything from yesterday? Nothing at all," Bulkhead was growing concerned.

"Yesterday," he had to think.

"Ratchet, what's going on," Optimus asked.

"I'm not sure, but I think it has to do with the mixing of technology," Ratchet started to fiddle on the console, "we took some stuff from ship for basics, but most of the computers in this 'base' is from junk computers on this world. I was concerned about mixing our more advanced technology with the organics'," Ratchet noticed Optimus' hard stared, "equipment… It all seemed to work, so I thought it was okay. That is," Ratchet gave his own hard stare at Bumblebee, "this glitch head decided to mix his processor with human technology."

"Is that what caused the computer to overheat and Bumblebee's memory lost," Optimus was trying to put it all together.

"It's possible," Ratchet confirmed, "but the scans should have picked up on the damage to his memory banks."

"I fine," Bumblebee was tired of being the center of attention for once, "look, see?"

He started to jump up and down and moving in every which way he could.

"See, nothing wrong," he finished.

"And you losing you memory is normal," Sari said sarcastically.

"Well… no, but Ratchet's scan couldn't find a thing wrong with me," Bumblebee was getting defensive.

Optimus put his hand on Bumblebee's shoulder, "we just want to make sure you're alright. That's all."

"And I keep telling you that I'm fine," he pulled away.

"Settle down young bot," Ratchet slowly came towards him.

"Get back Med Bot," Bumblebee jumped back.

"We just want to help you," Optimus tried the same thing.

"I see what you all doing," Bumblebee's eyes went wide; "you're all going against me. You want to put me in the trash heap because you think I'm broken… yeah… just throw him out… he's not worth it to fix… he's just an annoying BOT!"

He suddenly sprang forward, rolling underneath Optimus and past Bulkhead, who had to quickly pick up Sari before she was squashed.

"Grab him before he hurts himself," Optimus ordered.

"Or us," Prowl added.

Bumblebee quickly transformed into his vehicle mode and screeched down the hallway. Optimus was right on his tailpipe, but couldn't seem to grab hold of him. Ratchet deployed his electromagnets, hoping that he could slow the delusional Bumblebee down. It worked, for the most part.

"Settle down kid and hold still," he was struggling to hold on.

"No way old timer," Bumblebee yelled.

He transformed back into robot mode with his stingers ready to fire. Unleashing an energy that seemed to strong, Bumblebee's electricity pushed back Ratchet's electromagnet field back at him. Ratchet fell back as the electrified field hit him.

"Ratchet," Optimus hesitated.

"Don't worry about me! You have to stop him," Ratchet tried to get up.

"Right," he headed for Bumblebee again, "Bulkhead! Prowl! Drive him back to Med Bay! Sari, hide somewhere safe!"

Sari didn't have to be told twice. She instantly headed for Prowl's room and took cover behind the tree that grew in there. Prowl vanished in a blur and appeared before Bumblebee.

"Out of my way Ninja-bot," Bumblebee's stingers began to glow again.

Prowl wouldn't move.

"Your choice," he let the energy discharge.

It headed straight for its intended target, but still Prowl would not move. Somewhat to the surprise of Bumblebee, the electricity passed right through Prowl and made a rather large hole in the wall.

"Sorry about this little buddy," Bulkhead swung his massive wrecking ball around.

With one final swing, he brought it around and in the direction of Bumblebee. Maybe it was because there was something with him or maybe Prowl's illusion threw him off guard, but Bumblebee couldn't dodge the attack. Instead, he gave a blast from his stingers that traveled down Bulkhead's ball to its chain to his body. The shock was so powerful threw Bulkhead into the wall. His wrecking ball, however, hit Bumblebee square in the chest. Along with the ball, Bumblebee hit the wall and went through.

"Bulkhead! Bumblebee," Optimus ran to where Bumblebee landed.

He was still online, though he was having problems keeping his eyes open.

"Don't kick me out yet… don't kick me out," he was mumbling.

"Bumblebee," Optimus pushed the wrecking ball off, "it's going to be okay."

"Don't… don't call me that Sir…," he lost consciousness.

"Prime," Ratchet called out, "Bulkhead is unconscious!"

"What else can go wrong today," Optimus gently picked up Bumblebee's limp body.

Later that day…

"Both are stable and I'm keeping them under for now," Ratchet came over the comlink.

"Do you know what is doing this to them," Optimus asked in a weary tone.

"No… I have no idea. Whatever was affecting Bumblebee seems to have spread to Bulkhead. Their core temperatures are rising and I can't seem to do enough to keep it down. Prime," Ratchet sighed, "I don't know what to do."

There was a hint of desperation in his voice that Optimus couldn't ignore, "are you being affected as well?"

"… no… nothing that my scans can tell," Ratchet reported, "but it doesn't mean that I won't… Optimus if I happen to…"

"We'll figure this out Ratchet. Just keep those two and yourself online," Optimus tried to cheer him out.

"Nice try Prime," Ratchet wasn't going for it, "I've been around for too many stellar cycles to get fooled by that slag."

They continued to talk about the current situation, not realizing that a pair of little ears was listening in. Though they tried to make it sound like everything was going to be alright, Sari knew that they were lying. She knew that Bumblebee and Bulkhead were in a lot of trouble. She also knew, there was nothing she could do.

"Why won't you work," she shook the Key furiously, "why won't you work when we really need you… now," tears started fall to floor, "we really, really need you…"

The Key suddenly started to glow with a familiar light. It pulled and jerked, wanting Sari to follow it. Sari wasn't sure what it wanted, but anything was better than standing around crying. Following the pulls of the Key, Sari headed towards her room. The Key stop at the computer that the Autobots had installed for her.

"What do you want me to do now," Sari was a little confused.

The glow of the Key intensified and the screen of the computer turned on. 'We need help, can you destroy your own creation?', began to type on screen . A text box appeared with the question 'How did you get this frequency?'.

"Huh," Sari stared down at the Key.

The glow, however, had stopped and the Key never gave an answer to her question.

"I'll ask again," a shadowy figure appeared on the screen, "How did you get this frequency?"

"Who are you," is the only question the came to Sari's lips.


	3. A Hacker and an Explosion

Ah chapter three and all smiles so far. That makes me happy as an Author to know that some people seemed to be satisfied with my story. My thanks go out, especially to Koi who was kind enough to write a review.

You're probably wondering why I'm updating pretty regularly, well it's kind of my downfall as a writer. I have the first few chapters planned out and the end it decided on (sort of). The middle… well that's a whole other story (same story, just foggy on how it happens). Yeah, I usually get writer's block at some point and then I have to stop for a while. What can I say? I can't be expected to keep the momentum up all the time.

Okay, I'm done. Please enjoy the next chapter of 'Pyrus Virus'.

* * *

**Chapter Three: A Hacker and an Explosion**

Explaining the situation was easy… for the most part. It was the convincing that was going to take time.

"I still don't see why you need me," the shadowy figure yawned, "if you have a problem with your computer, then take it up with you bought it through or call the company that manufactures it."

Sari hadn't been completely truthful with whoever she was talking to; she couldn't be. She didn't know who this person was that the Key had contacted. This person wouldn't even identify themselves. Why or how the Key got a hold of them was a complete mystery.

"It's not that simple," Sari shied away, "you see this Computer wasn't built by a particulate company…"

"What? It's made in China or something," the figure was still obviously bored.

"No… farther than that," Sari admitted.

"… what's farther than China… it's like half way around the world," the figure snorted, "look kid, I could understand how you 'happen' to stumble across my signal… I still don't believe that, but being secretive about a common computer problem… you're hiding something. And frankly kid," the figure was getting annoyed, "you're wasting my time. Go to your parents and tell them your computer is sick. I have other things to do, then listen to a brat."

This was a little much to take from a complete stranger.

"You listen here," Sari's cheeks turned red, "I didn't contact you, this stupid Key did," she held it up to the screen, "I don't have a computer that's sick, it's my Friends that are sick."

"Then call their doctor," the figure could really care less.

"I don't even know why I'm talking to you anyway," Sari ignored the comment, "I need someone that knows about computers, bugs and glitches, not someone that's Lord of Nasty Remarks," she turned her back to figure.

"…," she couldn't tell if the figure was stunned or just ignoring her, "… that's Lady of Nasty Remarks," she finally spoke, "and just so you know, I do know about computers, bugs and glitches… you don't know who I am, do you?"

"Am I suppose to," Sari still had her back to the screen.

"Pyrus…," was the only word she said.

Sari's eyes went wide; the name was all too familiar.

"You're… you're that hacker that brought down Gear Co.," Sari's voice was shaky, "you're the one made that virus that fried over 5,000 computers… aren't you?"

She laughed quietly, "So the count's up to 5,000, huh? Man, it gets bigger every time I hear the story. As for Gear Co., they brought themselves down. With shady deals and unethical business practices… well… I just got the right people to notice the finer details of their financial records."

"A lot of people lost their jobs when Gear Co. closed their doors," Sari got defensive.

"So," she answered casually.

"So," Sari was getting even more annoyed, "innocent people suffered because of you! Doesn't mean anything to you?"

"No," she again answered without a care.

Sari tightened her hands into fists as her cheeks turned a scarlet red, "you have no heart! I wouldn't want you to help me out! Even if you were the last person on Earth!"

She slammed her fists down on the keyboard.

"I am the only person on Earth that knows about every single type of computer virus ever created," the figure said in a matter of fact tone, "if you computer or 'friends' are infected with a virus as you say, then this will help…," a bunch of random letters, symbols and numbers appeared in a separate box, "that is… if they have a common virus. If it's something more… then this just might accelerate it."

"What is that," Sari watched the strange code download.

"It's my best Anti-Virus program," she explained.

"And what do you mean by accelerate if it's not a common virus," Sari was suspicious.

The figure leaned back, "there are some viruses out there that are… not decoded yet… they're like the cold virus, constantly changing and evolving… simple, yet extremely dangerous to whatever they infect."

"How do I know if what they have is common or one of those viruses," Sari started to shake.

"Hard to say," she shrugged her in shadow shoulders, "as I said, they are constantly evolving. Signs vary from one machine to the next."

"Then how do I know to use the program or not," Sari asked.

"It's up to you…," she seemed to think for a moment, "Are there any other computers acting strange? Or do you not particularly care about one of you 'friends'?"

"There's the big computer that died the same time my friend went crazy," Sari explained.

"Is it still functioning or is it a complete lost," she asked.

"I don't know," Sari shrugged her shoulders.

"If it still can turn on, then beam the Anti-Virus program to it or upload it with a memory device," the figure suggested, "if the computer seems fine and… bad stuff doesn't happen, the program will most likely work on your 'friends'."

"Define bad stuff," Sari wanted to be clear.

"… there is a… slight possibility that it might explode… very slim chance though," she indicated with her fingers, "but if it doesn't work, basically the blue screen of death will appear… that's probably what will happen… most likely anyway…"

Sari frowned as she looked at the program on the screen. It could be the only hope for Bumblebee and Bulkhead, then again, it was coming from a person that concealed their face in shadow and went by a famous hacker's name. For all she knew, this Pyrus was the one that made or even gave them the virus. Pyrus' mean streak was notorious across the internet and even on the world news. If this truly was the same Pyrus, then why would she offer help to someone she didn't even know? Sari shook her head; those kinds of questions would have to wait until later, right now her friends needed her.

"Alright then," Sari took in a deep breath and then released it, "I'm going to try it on the big computer first and if it works, I'll use it on my friends."

"Good luck with that," she yawned, "I won't be seeing you later, bye," she was about to signoff.

"Wait," Sari stopped her, "can you at least wait until I try it out? I mean, what happens if it doesn't work? What do we do next?"

"Not my problem," the screen went blank all except for the Anti-Virus program.

"What a big meanie," Sari huffed.

There was no time to be mad though, she had to convince Optimus to use the program. Although, a bigger question was how Sari could transfer the program to the busted computer. Surely the Autobots would know.

"I don't think Optimus is going to go for this," Sari sighed, "but I have to do something."

Quickly she ran for the main room where Optimus was hopefully still working. To her relief, Optimus was still fiddling with the nearly dead computer.

"Optimus! Optimus," she ran up to him.

"What is it Sari," he looked over his shoulder.

"I know this is going to sound really weird, but," she started to say.

"The whole day has been weird," Optimus really wasn't listening, "I don't have time right now. I have to get computer back up and running to find out what happened to Bumblebee."

"You're not listening," Sari stated the obvious, "I have something that could help! I just need you to…"

"Sari, I can't play right now," Optimus was still ignoring her.

"I don't want to PLAY," Sari was getting frustrated, "fine I'll do it myself."

She huffed as she ran back to her room. Luckily, the program was still on the screen when she returned. There had to be some way she could get the program to the other computer.

"Maybe I've got some of my dad's genius," she prayed as she started to hit random keys.

The computer screen flashed and all sorts of boxes appeared, but nothing she could use to transfer the program. Frowning at her failed attempt, she brought the Key up to her face.

"You contacted that hacker, now figure out a way to get it off and to the other computer," she sighed.

It must have been listening or maybe it understood. Either way, the Key started to glow again and transformed into a shape that seemed to fit into a port. Figuring it was going to help her, Sari placed the Key into the closest port. The screen began to glow with the same light that emanated from the Key. The open program seemed to fall apart; numbers and letters fell to the bottom of the screen and shattering into pieces, leaving only the symbols.

"No, no, no! You were suppose download the entire program," Sari yelled at the Key, "not destroy it!"

The symbols came together and seemed to form a new and different program. The Key popped out of the port and started to pull Sari towards the main room.

"You're being pushy… pulley today," Sari ran with the key.

She still wasn't sure what the Key was doing or why it was being so active, but there really wasn't a way for her to argue with it. She could only follow its pulls and somewhat cryptic methods. By the time Sari had made it back to the main room, Prowl was standing behind Optimus, observing in his usually quiet manner.

"Um Optimus," Sari stopped, but she was still being pulled forward by the Key, "I think you should take a look at this."

"Uh huh," Optimus mumbled.

"Prime," Prowl took noticed.

"What… oh," Optimus finally looked down at the struggling Sari.

Prowl not waiting another moment, picked up Sari and placed her on console of the computer. The Key changed shape again, but this time it was for a bigger port. Sari taking the hint, quickly placed it in the port. The computer screen came alive, multiply screens appeared. Some showed the systems check that Optimus, other's showed the cheat codes that Sari looked up to beat Bumblebee at video games and the search results that Bumblebee had put in to repair the controller.

"It's all here," Optimus got closer to the screen.

"There," Sari pointed out, "that's gotta to be the one that Bumblebee tried to download!"

The Key suddenly increased in brightness. The Anti-Virus program appeared on the screen and the symbols started to pour forth and intertwine with the instructions that Bumblebee tried to download. Like a snake, they wrapped around the document and squeezed it until it shattered into a thousand pieces.

"Whoa… that was dramatic," Sari stared in amazement.

"What was that," Prowl asked.

"Umm… an Anti-Virus program," Sari was still staring at the screen.

"Where did you get it from," Optimus looked down at her.

"Well…," she wasn't sure how to explain the fact that the Key contacted an infamous hacker and that she managed to convince her to help.

Spark! Flash! Whoosh! Smoke started to come from the keyboard.

"It's going to blow," Sari pulled the Key from the port.

Prowl carefully and quickly grabbed Sari and jumped away from the now on fire computer. Optimus instantly started to spray the console with fire retardant foam. It put out the fire, but the computer's metal frame was still expanding, like internal pressure was building.

"Everyone get down," Optimus backed away from the computer and ducked down.

BOOM! The computer exploded, leaving pieces of shrapnel to rain down on them.

Optimus stood up, "is everyone alright?"

"All of me seems to be here," Prowl reported.

"I've got all my parts," Sari checked herself over in Prowl's palms.

"PRIME!?! What's going on out there," Ratchet yelled over the comlink.

"We seem to have had a major malfunction," he reported.

"More like malfunction destruction," Prowl looked at what remained of the computer.

"And she said that there was only a slight possibility of the computer exploding," Sari sighed with a frown.

"Who said," Optimus still wanted to know where Sari got the program from.

"Well…," she started to explain again.

She tried to explain how the Key decided to do something about the current situation. And how it somehow got in contact with a hacker and how the hacker gave her an Anti-Virus program that might help and how the Key downloaded and modified it, then decided to use it on the big computer first.

"And you guys kind of know the rest," Sari finally took a breath.

"So let me get this straight," Optimus rubbed his eyes, "the Key contacted a famous Earth hacker."

"More like evil hacker," Sari was still steaming from how the hacker treated her.

"Doesn't matter," Optimus just wanted to work through the facts, "you somehow convince the hacker… this Pyrus, to give you an Anti-Virus program that might or might not get rid of whatever is affecting Bumblebee and Bulkhead and possibly Ratchet. The Key then downloaded the program and wanted you to use it on this computer," he pointed to the remains, "which seemed to work until it blew up."

"That's about it," Sari shrugged her shoulders, "oh and she said there was a slight chance if the virus wasn't common, that the computer could explode…"

"Which it did," Prowl commented.

Optimus looked at what remained of the computer and seemed to get lost in thought. Accepting a strange program from a stranger was a little risky, especially since Sari made it seem that this 'Pyrus' was particularly dangerous. Although, this hacker did give her an Anti-Virus program that did work for the most part, at least from what he could tell. That is, until it blew up the computer. This hacker could also know about what is affecting his crew. But, the same thought kept replaying in his mind; it was too risky to bring an unknown organic into their Earth base.

"Sari," Optimus came to a decision, "do you think you can get a hold of 'Pyrus' again?"

Sari shrugged her shoulders, "you would have to ask this," she pointed to the Key.

A few minutes later back in Sari's room.

"Come on you stupid Key," Sari shook if furiously.

"I don't think that's doing any good," Prowl commented.

"Then why don't you figure out how to get it to work," she was getting frustrated.

"Let's try to keep calm. Arguing won't help Bumblebee, Bulkhead or Ratchet," Optimus put his hand between the two.

"Maybe we can get a trace on the signal," Prowl made a helpful suggestion.

Without waiting for Optimus approval, Prowl set to work on the computer. His fingers worked fast across the keyboard. Several boxes appeared; wavelengths and random signals seemed to play across the screen. He stopped suddenly.

"This is the one that you must have been using," Prowl pulled up one particular signal.

"How can you be sure," Optimus was a little bit skeptical.

"It has a changing variable," he explained, "this is only used by people who are trying to hide. Plus," he added, "it's the only one that is fluctuating, unlike the others that are constant."

"Can you use it to get in contact with Pyrus," Optimus asked.

"No…," Prowl began to type again, "but I can speak with her directly."

"What do you mean by…," Optimus started to ask.

Prowl disappeared from their sight.

"Prowl? Prowl," he started to look around, "PROWL," he yelled over the comlink.

It was no good, Prowl was gone.

An hour later…

Optimus gently placed a blanket over Sari. She had fallen asleep while waiting for news from either Ratchet or Prowl, both were quiet. Stepping out of her room, Optimus slowly and carefully closed the door. She had had a long day and needed the sleep. All he could do was to ensure peace and quiet for her while she slept.

Vroom… it was Prowl or Optimus hoped it was.

"Prowl, is that you," Optimus headed for the main room.

Prowl was standing in the middle of the room. In one hand, he held several black computer cases and the other was holding something behind his back.

"Where were you and what to do have there," Optimus pointed to the moving object behind his back.

"It's more like who," Prowl brought what he was holding around.

Optimus was surprised to see that Prowl was holding an organic who was struggling to get from his grip. The organic was bounded and gagged.

"This is Pyrus," Prowl explained before Optimus could reprimand him, "she was not exactly willing to come, so I had no other choice but to insist on her coming."

"GRR," the organic growled through the gag.

Optimus could only sigh at Prowl's aggressive methods, however affective they were.


	4. Convince the Girl!

Kind of sad this chapter, nobody has reviewed. I know I won't get reviews every single time… but I can't help but be a little bummed… oh well. Since there are no reviews, I don't have any personal thank you(s) to extend. I will say thank you to all that took their time to read my story. And I will see you next chapter.

* * *

**Chapter Four: Convince the Girl!**

"You know… this is considered kidnapping on Earth," the young female organic hissed, "I could also claim assault and battery. That wouldn't look to good for you guys."

"Like you have room to talk," Sari folded her arms smugly, "you're wanted by the FBI."

This seemed to shut her up, except for some minor grumbling.

Optimus wasn't quite sure what to do with her. There before him, sat a notorious hacker (that's how Sari put it) tied up and was extremely unhappy. But what could he do to convince her? She didn't indicate that she was going to listen to what they had to say nor even interested in helping them. She was more interested in escaping from her bindings.

"What's with the Goth exterior and weird jacket? You hiding something under there," Sari reached for the hacker's hood that covered her face.

"Hey," she pulled back, "don't grab stuff that isn't yours! And the jacket is not weird, it's a custom bolero, it was very expensive and I'm not a Goth… I just like the pants… lots of pockets for holding my smaller items."

"Sheesh, you don't have to yell," Sari became a little cross herself.

"Wouldn't you be doing the same if you were taken by force by a giant alien robot," she turned her head towards Prowl, "and will someone please untie me!?"

"Do you promise to behave," Prowl bent down to her.

"Pfff," she snorted, "I'm a hacker and female. Do you really think I can behave?"

"I'll assume that was a rhetorical question," Prowl answered calmly.

"It was a trick question actually," she continued to struggle.

"I'm sorry about how my friend treated you," Optimus came down to her level, "but we could really use your help."

She whipped her head around, "you really think I'm going to help you, after what I've been through!? I was bound and gagged! Taken against my will! And now, you want my help? There must be a glitch in your system if you think I'm going to help you."

"When you put it like that," Sari had to admit it didn't sound good.

"Again, I'm sorry," Optimus apologized again, "we normally don't treat organics like this, but it's a special… reason to why we… kidnapped you. Two of our friends are… I guess you would call it, 'sick'."

"I hope they're still under warranty," she huffed.

"Why you," Sari started at her, but Prowl put his hand between the two.

"Please we could really use your help," Optimus asked, "we've never encountered anything like this before. That's why we think it might an Earthly origin and why we need someone of your expertise."

"Why should I? It's not my problem or my fault that your friends got fried. I only helped you out," she turned to Sari, "because you wouldn't stop whining about them. As I can see," she must have noticed the remains of the computer, "my Anti-Virus program didn't work and my calculations were off… how disappointing… Did you do a direct beam or did you use a flash drive of sorts?"

"Why do you care," Sari asked with a hint of anger in her voice.

A smirk appeared on the visible part of her face, "I'm a curious sort. That's how I accumulate my knowledge and library of… oddities of the computer world."

"Oddities," Optimus didn't understand what she meant.

"All sorts of wonderful and terrible things are born and die on the internet every day… I watch for such things… I lie in wait for them… I study them," a strange smile appeared on her face, "beings like yourselves… oddities… a machine… but you are as alive as I or her," she indicated to Sari, "such a marvelous thing… yes indeed…. To find machines that think… so organically…"

Sari sighed, "She's defiantly got a screw loose."

"A screw maybe, but as the old saying goes," she continued, "there is a fine line between genius and madness… and I cross it on a regular basis."

Sari's eyes brightened for moment, then narrowed, "if you're such a genius, then I bet you could figure out what's going on with our two friends."

Optimus understood what she was trying to do. He often observed that humans exhibited the same behavior as Sentinel Prime; they could be very egotistical at times. Maybe she would be just vain enough to fall for Sari's ploy. However, she too seemed to understand Sari's motive.

"Nice try kid," she applauded Sari's attempt, "but I know my limitations unlike some people I know… like certain game lingo speaking so called geniuses," she realized she was talking to herself, "look, let me explain. I'm not a nice person… I'm not the type to do things because they are the right thing to do. Right and wrong are of little consequence to me and have no true value in the world. Humans or organics, as you call us, have proven that time and time again. If people, as a whole, cannot hold on to what makes us sentient beings, then why should I? That is why I have made up my mind and there is no argument that you present that could convince me otherwise."

"Such a bleak view of life," Prowl was surprised by her attitude.

She shrugged her shoulders, "life experiences. Too often I have observed and endured the cruelties of my own kind."

"But we're not talking about humans," Sari tried once more, "we're talking about them, Autobots. Surely you've seen what they do or at least heard of what they've done. You can't put them in with humans… they are alien after all."

The hacker thought for a moment, "it is true, they are aliens to this world and to our decaying moral society… they have exhibited similar attributes to that of comic book heroes," she continued to think out loud, "if anything… they are a tad naïve… what an interesting thing…"

"What's interesting," Prowl was little intrigued himself.

"I'm actually considering the probability of me helping you," she answered.

"I thought there was no argument that would convince you," Sari repeated her words in a taunting tone.

"Again, I have miscalculated. A child and robots from space are not usual factors in my thought and judgment process," she explained, "I will have to rethink everything."

"We don't have time for that," Sari exclaimed loudly, "my friends are dying for all I know! I can't… snivel… I can't," tears started to form in her eyes, "I can't lose them… not after losing…," she started to sob uncontrollably.

Optimus came over and picked her up gently.

"It's going to be okay," he tried to console her.

But her tears still came.

"You guys must mean a lot to her," the hacker whispered up to Prowl.

"We are all she has right now," Prowl bent down to her again, "her father has gone missing and a rather…," he tried to think of the best way to put it, "unscrupulous man has taken away everything she had. She's very fragile right now. If she were to lose something more, I fear for her. Surely," he added, "you must have experienced some type of great loss in your life."

She turned away from him; possibly in shame.

So many times he had heard her cry, whether it was in her room or hiding in a remote corner of the base. She didn't want the Autobots to see her cry anymore. She always put up a brave front, though she was so afraid on the inside. Optimus figured she would come to them when she was ready. But right now, he couldn't stand to see her cry.

"You're coming with me," he put Sari down and picked the hacker up.

He headed down the hallway, towards the quarantine Med Bay. If Sari's tears wouldn't convince her, maybe seeing two sentient beings lying, possibly dying would.

He stopped at the now sealed doors, "Ratchet," he called out, "open the door."

"What!? That would break quarantine! You and Prowl could get infected," Ratchet yelled.

"I know Ratchet," Optimus answered calmly, "but I have to show our guest," he used the term lightly, "how badly we need a cure."

"Guest? What… never mind," he didn't want to know.

The doors creaked and moaned as they slowly opened. The light from the outside flooded the Med Bay. Only the glow of the control panel could be made out with subtle outline of two bots lying on tables and one standing over them. The shadows of wires and cables were sticking into bots on the table, acting as spark support for their failing bodies.

"I hope you have a good reason for risking possible contamination," Ratchet sighed.

"I hope so too," Optimus sighed as he set the hacker down, "this is Ratchet, he's our Mechanic and Medical Bot."

"Who's that," Ratchet asked without waiting for a greeting.

"This is Pyrus," Optimus introduced her, "she a computer expert and might have some idea to what is affecting Bumblebee and Bulkhead."

"That's what you keep saying, but I'm still not convinced that I can help," she snorted, "for all I or you know, this is something from your planet."

"Humph," Ratchet was already annoyed by her, "there has never been anything like on Cybertron and I should know. I highly doubt that this… whatever it is, is Cybertronian in nature."

"You say doubt, but were there is doubt, there is belief," she retorted.

"Are you saying that I don't know what I'm doing," Ratchet yelled.

"… No… just that there are so many things in the Universe that yet to be discovery and yet to be understood," she explained, "you or your race, might have not experienced it before and it could have been there all the time… kind of like when humans discovered germs. They have always been here affecting the world around us, but we had no clue to their existence until they were discovered."

"…," Ratchet wasn't quite sure what to say to that.

"Ah… you understand I see," she looked up to Optimus, "I will need my laptop… your friend Prowl had the presence of mind to take some of mine when he so rudely invited me to your humble abode."

"Does that mean you're going to help us," Optimus was surprised by her turn around.

"No. As I said before, I'm a curious sort. This will be an interesting study case," that strange smile appeared again, "if I happen to find out what's wrong with your friends and I happen to figure out a way to fix them… well that just good luck for you. However," she became grim, "I do not guarantee anything."

"There are no guarantees in life either," Ratchet added with his usual sarcastic tone.


	5. Of Viruses and Worms

Still bummed.

That's all.

Thank you to all the people that took their time to read my story. See you next chapter.

* * *

**Chapter Five: Of Viruses and Worms**

"You know," Pyrus sighed, "it's rude to stare."

Sari continued to stare up at her, with her mouth wide open in awe.

She sighed with a hint of frustration this time, "Look, I need to concentrate on this. Why don't you go watch TV or something or whatever it is, kids do today?"

"You're tall," Sari stated the obvious.

She bent down to her level, "yes, I am tall. I can't help that my genes decided to make me 6 foot 2. Okay? So if you don't stop staring, you will have to leave," she stood up and again towered over Sari.

Sari, however, still stared.

Pyrus began to rubbed what Sari assumed was the bridge of her nose. She must have decided to do something, because she grabbed Sari around the waist and headed for the main room of the base.

"Please take care of this," she set her down in front of Optimus, "she's being annoying."

"What is she doing," Optimus as a little confused.

"She won't stop staring at me," Pyrus complained.

"I can't help it," Sari defended herself, "she's really tall!"

"They're really tall," she pointed out, "you should be use to having people taller then you… you're like 3 foot nothing."

"Hey," Sari threw her hands on her hips, "at least I don't get nose bleeds when I stand up every time."

"That's only happen twice… this year," she admitted, "at least I don't have to worry about drowning every time I step into a puddle."

They began to insult one another back and forth.

"Excuse me," Optimus tried to stop them, but they ignored him. "EXCUSE ME," he yelled.

They both stopped and looked up at him, "WHAT?!"

"Could we please focus on the task at hand," he tried to ask as calmly as he could.

"Fine," they both turned their backs to one another.

"Just keep her out of my way," Pyrus snorted.

"Then get out of my room," Sari snorted right back.

"It would probably be easier if you did work out here," Optimus sighed.

"I need to work on the computer I put the Anti-Virus on," she explained, "but for some odd reason it's not there now. Not even a trace of it and the computer that you used it on is now in pieces… nothing viable I can find. And," she added, "you still didn't tell me how you transferred the program in the first."

"Well," Optimus wasn't sure if he wanted to reveal the secret of the Allspark Key.

"This did it," Sari announced, "it's also the one that contacted you."

"How did this contact me," Pyrus bent down to her level and started to reach for the Key.

"Remember," she pulled it away, "don't grab stuff that isn't yours," she mockingly mimicked Pyrus' statement from before.

"Yeah, yeah," Pyrus sighed as she stood up, "do you think it could at least hook into my laptop and show me where my program is?"

"Umm… well… you see," Sari fumbled with her words.

"The Key doesn't always work the way you want it to," Prowl explained.

"I see," Pyrus folded her arms and then sighed, "Either way, I need to see what happened when my program went to work. That can tell me a lot about what we are dealing with."

Like on cue, the Key began to glow and pull Sari towards Pyrus. Before she could stop it, the Key came into contact with Pyrus' hand. She froze as did Sari.

"Sari," Optimus reached out for her, but drew back when a spark of blue energy arched to his finger, "Ah!"

"What was that," Prowl didn't attempt the same.

"I don't know," Optimus looked down at the two, "I don't know."

…

"Where are we," Sari took hold of Pyrus' pants.

"I don't know," she looked around.

They were surrounded by nothing. It was a plain white landscape where the sky could not be distinguished. They weren't even sure what they were standing out, but it was solid enough.

"The Key ever done this before," Pyrus asked calmly.

"No," Sari gripped Pyrus' pants tighter.

"… Hmm," she continued scan the area.

A breeze suddenly picked up and the sounds of an 8-bit game echoed over the empty plane. Above them the 'sky' darkened as numbers appeared. A bunch of ones and zeroes digitalized and seemed to randomly changing.

"What is that," Sari looked up at the ever changing numbers.

"It's… it's a virus," Pyrus studied it, "it's my virus, Halberd!"

"The one infected Bumblebee and Bulkhead," she asked.

"I don't know," Pyrus stepped forward, "it's possible, but it shouldn't have done any damage… nothing like you described…"

Before she could say another word another set of ones and zeroes appeared and began to wrap around the first program. It got tighter and tighter, until the first one shattered into a thousand pieces. The bits and pieced started to rain down on Sari and Pyrus. She quickly shielded Sari from the falling bits, though keeping her eyes to the sky.

Sari looked up, "thanks."

"No problem," she continued to stare up into the sky, "it's… it's Watchdog…"

"What's Watchdog," Sari asked as she too turned her attention to the sky.

"It's the Security System I designed," she explained, "It's the basis for all my Viruses and Anti-Virus programs."

"Is that what you gave me," Sari asked.

"Yes and no. As I said, it's the foundation for all my programs," she started to reach out for it; "I put random data that surrounds the main core of the Virus and Anti-Virus programs and then that surrounds Watchdog."

"Kind of like an onion," Sari simplified it.

"A computerized onion," Pyrus agreed, "if you will. How did your Key disassemble my program down to Watchdog?"

"Don't ask me," Sari shrugged her shoulders, "it's always done things that I don't understand… or why it does it."

"At least I know what happen now. Watchdog destroyed the Halberd virus," she thought out loud, "but why would the computer explode? Halberd is a common Trojan… advanced, but common. Explosions only happen when there is a virus that resists containment."

"Containment," Sari was confused.

"Watchdog…," she started but was interrupted by a sudden and bright light.

"Sari! Sari, are you okay," Optimus was yelled in concern.

"Huh!? What," she rubbed her eyes.

"That was unusual," Pyrus shook her head.

"What happened," Sari looked around in a daze.

"The Key started to glow and pull you towards Pyrus," Prowl explained, "when it made contact with her, you both went into a trance-like state. We couldn't awaken you," he indicated to Optimus."

"Are you two okay," Optimus was a little bit more concerned about their condition.

"I guess," Sari checked herself over.

"No physical damage," Pyrus reported.

Optimus released a sigh of relief, but he was still curious to what just happen, "what happen? Did the Key show you something?"

"Oh yeah," Sari remembered the strange place events, "we were in a place that was only white and there was not sky or ground… that I could tell…"

Sari continued to explain what happen after the Key started to glow. Pyrus, on the other hand, went over to the laptop cases and started to set up a strange configuration of computers that somehow linked up to one another. She pulled wires from her multiple pants pockets, all the time being watched by Prowl.

"And the like on the big computer, the Anti-Virus program," Sari started to explain the last part.

"Watchdog," Pyrus corrected her.

"Fine, Watchdog," Sari huffed, "anyway, it wrapped around the virus and broke it into tiny pieces and then there was the big boom," she indicated with her hands and sound effects.

"Why would the Key do that," Optimus looked to Prowl for an answer, but he could not provide any insights.

"It wanted to show me what happen," Pyrus explained, "I asked for it to do that and it did. It gave me a few answers to the problem, but a solution shall be harder to come by," she rubbed her chin in thought.

"So you know what happened," Sari got her hopes up.

"… too be fair, I have a better understanding of the nature of what possibly started the problem with the yellow one," she was referencing Bumblebee.

"And that would be," Optimus wanted to hear her theory.

She sighed, "it would be better if I show you."

Sari cocked her head, "how are you going to do that?"

A smile appeared on Pyrus' exposed face, "with this," she pulled a fist sized device from one of her pockets.

"A holographic projector… very clever," Prowl complimented on the compact design.

Pyrus finished hooking up the wires and cables from all her computers to the projector, "it's probably crude by your standards, but mine is in HD."

She turned on one of her six laptops. All of them started up just after the first, like they were responding to it. Each one had a different screen color, possibly indicating a certain purpose or use. The main one had a black screen with a flaming skull as the background. The one to the right of it was red with skull and cross bones and the one to the left was white with the phrase "Beware of Dog" on it.

"Interesting set up," Prowl came down closer to computers.

"I had to do it like this," Pyrus began to type furiously on the main laptop's keyboard, "not enough memory on each one to contain all the information I've gathered. External memory devices are too risky… FBI would love if I used those," she shook her head, "anyway, keep your eye on the center of the room," she indicated to where she placed the projector.

The lights dimmed and the projector began to glow with a golden light. The light twisted upon its self, forming single beams that curved and swayed in the darkness.

"You have a flare for the dramatic," Sari whispered.

"What can I say," Pyrus shrugged her shoulders, "I'm a showman at heart."

The light came together and formed a solid figure of a square. Within the square a sphere of numbers, letters and symbols and within that was another sphere with only numbers.

"Cool," Sari reach out for it.

Pyrus cleared her throat, "I think we've discussed this before."

"Right," Sari withdrew her hand.

"So what are we looking at," Optimus observed the strange set of codes.

"This is Watchdog," Pyrus proudly announced, "my Security Program. I designed it to protect my systems from fellow hackers and government agencies alike. It adapts to the programs and operating systems that a hacker uses and then promptly boots them out with a… parting gift," she quietly laughed.

"Parting gift," Optimus wasn't to please with the way she said that.

"A virus from my collection," she smiled, "if someone wishes to look into my files, they will not go unpunished. Anyway," she got back to what was important, "Watchdog is always on the lookout for viruses, worms and trojans that I might have not encountered yet. It 'captures' them so I can study them later," she continued to explain, "Sometimes, when a virus is too much for it, the system destroys it… along with a piece of its self."

Sari raised her hand, "is that what caused the explosion?"

"Yes," she confirmed, "I've lost two computers because of it… not the best idea on my part, but it is an effective method to make sure dangerous viruses don't roam the internet… besides mine. It's never been that big," she hinted at the remains. "From what the 'Key' indicated, it had broken down the Anti-Virus program down to Watchdog and used that to attack the Halberd trojan."

The stimulation started. It showed exactly what they had seen on the screen right before the computer blew up. The Anti-Virus program wrapped around the virus once again and destroyed. Like the real life counterpart, the image shattered; a stimulated version of an explosion.

"What was that," Prowl noticed something.

"Good… optics," Pyrus had to think of the appropriate term, "let me magnify it."

She tapped on the screen and the image rewound to just before the stimulations stopped. There was a little worm like strand of numbers that was attached to the Watchdog program. She started it once again, but in slow-mo. The worm attached itself to the Anti-Virus program and seemed to inject its data into it.

"Eww," Sari shuttered.

"Yes… rather disgusting little bug," Pyrus agreed, "but interesting none the less."

"But what is it," Optimus was curious, "is it something that was in the computer already or was it the original thing that was affecting Bumblebee?"

"Ah, those are the right questions," Pyrus seemed to be impressed with Optimus' observation, "To answer your first question, this is a classic worm malware, but with a devious twist," she began to type once again, bringing up a closer view of the worm, "it has a virus embedded in it."

"I don't understand," Optimus was a little confused.

"You and me both big guy," Sari agreed.

Pyrus shook her head as she sighed, "Worms are programs that self replicate and can 'burrow' into a computer's system without being attached to a file or download… nasty little buggers. They do cause harm, but nothing serious. In the case of this particular worm, there is a virus within it."

"What will that do," Optimus interrupted her.

"Viruses are programs that cause major damage to systems. Either destroying or hacking data… hackers like them to get into a secure system," she admitted, "they, however, need to piggyback on file to get into a computer. Both of these malware together… intertwined…"

Prowl pondered out loud, "it sounds like this malware, as you call, takes the best attributes of each and combines them into one destructive… program."

"Mmm," Pyrus seemed to be in deep thought.

"Have you ever seen anything thing like this," Optimus asked.

"Hmm? Uh… no… no, I haven't," she snapped out of it, "I'll need a complete of both your friends to see where this virus is residing. Hopefully it has chosen somewhere easy to access and not attached to anything important."

"Ratchet, we need those scans you did of Bumblebee and Bulkhead," Optimus got on his comlink.

"What do you want those for," Ratchet was still cranky.

"Your scans won't do," Pyrus stopped him, "you weren't able to detect the virus/worm before. I'll have to run my scan for a better picture of situation."

She started to pull the wires from her main computer, but the image of the virus remained on the projector. Sari stared at it; this was the thing that was causing Bumblebee and Bulkhead so much pain; the thing that was destroying them.

"Hey kid," Pyrus patted her on the head, "we've got the bug, we just need the cure."

Sari wiped away some tears that had formed, "yeah."

She walked past Sari, a computer bag slung over shoulder. A strange smile on her face, a smile that sent shivers down Sari's spine. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that Pyrus knew more about what was going on then she indicated.

"Hey Prowl," she whispered.

"I know," he looked down at her, "I'll go back to where I found her and see if I can find something more."

"And I'll keep an eye on her from here," she winked.


	6. The Good News, Bad News or Worse News

I just keep banging out these chapters like there's no tomorrow. I guess I just want to get it out so I can move on to my other stories and school projects. Oh well. I don't have any reviewers to thank, but apparently people have been reading it. So, thanks go out to the readers who took their time to read.

Oh, one more thing. Would it kill you guys to review?

* * *

**Chapter Six: Good News, Bad News, Worse News**

"You know Sari… you don't have to be in here," Ratchet tired to be as sincere as he could.

"I'm fine. Besides," Sari patted Bumblebee on the head, "I want to be here for them."

"How sweet," Pyrus commented sarcastically.

"Shouldn't you be scanning," Sari snapped.

She only shook her head with a quiet laugh. Apparently, she was not going to let Sari bother her while the scan was running. She watched the scan carefully, waiting for something to materialize.

"If my scans didn't show anything," Ratchet looked over Pyrus' shoulder, "then how can you be so sure that yours will?"

She didn't seem to mind him looking over her shoulder or asking her questions.

"You said it yourself, you and your race have never seen or experienced something like this," she slightly turned her hood head towards him, "your scans aren't made to detect Earthly viruses or anything that might resemble them, therefore, your scans are useless."

Ratchet was about to take offense, but she turned to Sari.

"Make sure that when Prowl, that's his name right? Make sure that when he comes back that he brings my white bag with a red cross on it," she turned back to her computer screen, "I need my supplies and medical equipment."

"Medical equipment," Sari asked in confusion, "you sick or something? Should I be wearing a mask," she covered her face.

"Heh," she smiled, "unless diabetes has gone airborne, I don't think you have to worry about it."

"Diabetes? Is that some type organic glitch," Ratchet asked.

"In sorts," Pyrus confirmed, "but right now," she focused on the scan, "we have a worm… virus… thing to find."

How did she know that Prowl was looking through her stuff? Maybe she overheard them? Maybe she had some sort of listening device planted on one of them?

She must have noticed her deep thought, "I know you guys don't trust, so it would only logical that one of you would sift through my stuff. I'm not surprised or offended. I just want my bag… well? Go on and tell him."

Sari folded her arms, "Optimus, did you get that?"

"Yes," Optimus came over the comlink, "I'll tell Prowl right away."

The conversation seemed to die with that. Ratchet was watching Pyrus watching her scans. Sari didn't know what to say or if her words could even reach Bumblebee or Bulkhead. Being in there was hard, even a little unbearable, but she had to keep her eyes on Pyrus for any signs of double crossing. Though, she really didn't know what to look for. For all she knew, Pyrus wasn't scanning them at all, but was infecting them more viruses. She shook her head; she couldn't let thoughts like that dominate her mind. She had to think positive and that Pyrus was actually doing some good.

"Done," she leaned in, "… interesting."

"What is it," Ratchet tried to see, "and don't tell me it says nothing."

"Nope. It's the worm… virus… I need to name this thing," Pyrus sighed.

"You found it, so why not call it 'Pyrus Virus'. That's what scientists do when they find something. They name it after themselves," Sari suggested.

"Yes, because they have big heads," Pyrus didn't like the idea, "but whatever," she shrugged her shoulders.

"So they are infected with the virus from the computer," Ratchet pondered.

"… hmm… I don't know," Pyrus rubbed her chin, "it looks similar, but it seems to have evolved… as I thought it might."

"Can you get rid of it," Sari asked with hope.

"You can get rid of any malware," she took in a deep breath, "you just need the right tools."

"And you have those… right," Sari asked with a little bit more hope.

"You saw what happened when it tried to infect Watchdog," she sighed.

"So that would be a no," Ratchet joined her.

"But, it's interesting," she fiddled with her laptop.

"What's that," Ratchet really didn't care.

"Your scan came back with traces of the virus, but," a smile formed on her face as she looked up at Ratchet, "the virus can't replicate in your system, nor does it seem to be able to appropriately infect you. And," she added, "it seems to be dying."

Ratchet's jaw dropped in amazement, "when did you scan me?!?"

The smile turned into a smirk, "I just did a radio scan of you. It's not as accurate, but I trust it."

"Wait, if he was infected," Sari put two and two together, "but it's dying, then that means that Ratchet has some type on immunity. Which means if you can find out why, you could use it to cure Bumblebee and Bulkhead!?"

"Smart kid," Pyrus was impressed.

"Yes, I am," she gave herself a pat on the back.

"One problem," Ratchet was about to rain on the parade, "how do you determine how or why I'm, how'd you put it… immune?"

"I guess I could just go in manually, start ripping things out and scan them individually," Pyrus pondered.

"NO WAY," Ratchet backed away from her, "YOU'RE NOT RIPPING OUT MY SERVORS!"

"Um… Ratchet," Sari tried to hide her giggles, "I think she was joking."

"I knew that," Ratchet released a sigh of relief.

"Sure you did," Sari answered sarcastically.

"All I need to do is a systems scan, preferably wired," Pyrus held up a wire.

"You're not sticking that anywhere," Ratchet folded his arms.

"What, you want me to warm it up first," she held it tightly between the palms of her hands.

"Please Ratchet," Sari pleaded with him, "this could help Bumblebee and Bulkhead.

Ratchet growled, "oh alright! But I'm putting it in," he grabbed the wire from Pyrus.

He turned around and the sound of chest opening could be heard. Turning back around, he folded his arms in annoyance. The wire was protruding from his exposed circuits.

"That will do," Pyrus initiated the scan.

"Whoa," Ratchet jumped.

"Did it shock you," Pyrus actually showed concern.

"No… I just wasn't expecting it," Ratchet shook whatever sensation he was feeling.

"I'll warn you next time," she looked back at her screen, "the scan should take about thirty minutes… you might want to get comfortable," she warned him.

"Sari," Optimus whispered over the comlink, "Prowl's back."

Sari turned away from the pair, "did he find anything?"

"More computers, computer parts," Optimus started to list, "a motorcycle, her white bag with a red cross on it and miniature refrigeration unit with organic fuel in it."

"Do you mean a mini-frig," Sari tried to make sense of the last one, "with food in it?"

"I guess so," Optimus didn't really know.

"What about her files? Where you able to get anything off her computers," Sari whispered just loud to catch Ratchet's attention, but not Pyrus'.

"I've looked through some of the computers out here, but either they are blank," he explained, "or the security system won't let me get farther than logging in."

"So in other words Prowl has nothing and you have nothing," Sari simplified it.

"Exactly," Optimus sighed, "how have things been going on in there?"

Sari smiled, "Pyrus' scan showed that Ratchet is infected, but it can't affect him. If she can figure out why, she could come up with a way to fix Bumblebee and Bulkhead," she realized she was yelling in excitement.

"Might be able to, might being the key word," she corrected Sari.

"Whatever," Sari went back to her conversation with Optimus, "so that's where we are."

"That's good news," Optimus shared her enthusiasm.

"We needed some after what's happen," Sari agreed.

"Don't get your hopes up too soon kid," Pyrus warned, "I still need to figure out why Ratchet isn't affected by the virus. If I can't do that, then we need a change in plans."

"You don't have to be a wet blanket about it," Sari huffed.

"Whatever," she went back to her scan.

Half an hour and a scan later…

Sari covered her eyes as Pyrus lifted up a portion of her white t-shirt. Taking the syringe from her mouth, she pulled the cap off with her teeth. With one quick stabbing motion, she plunged the needle into her exposed belly. Sari uncovered one of her eyes and released a little eck when Pyrus stuck herself.

"You could have just waited outside for me," she placed the cap back on, "I do this all the time."

"Is it over," Sari still had her eyes covered.

"Yes," she confirmed as she tucked her shirt back in, "now I have to eat something."

Sari cautiously uncovered her eyes and sighed with relief to find it was over.

"Come on," Pyrus wanted her to follow.

Sari jumped down from the counter in her room and quickly followed after her. Pyrus was ready to show her findings to the rest of the Autobots, but she needed to eat before anything else. Luckily, Prowl had not only brought back the back she asked for, but he also brought back her mini-frig. They came to the main room where Optimus and Prowl where waiting. Optimus had rewired the TV so that Ratchet could watch the presentation.

"Are you feeling alright," Optimus noticed that Pyrus was rubbing her belly.

"Yeah, I just need to eat something before I pass out," she headed straight for the mini-frig.

She grabbed a soda and what looked like to be carrot sticks. Heading back to where her computers were set up, she sat down in front of the main one and cracked open the soda. She took a big swig and a big bite out of one of the carrots.

"Alright," she swallowed her mouth full, "so… do you guys want the good news, the bad news or the worse news?"

Optimus answered for the group, "the good news."

"The good news is that I know why Ratchet is immune," she brought up a holographic image of Ratchet, "not to sound rude, but his older operating system can't be affected by…"

"Pyrus Virus," Sari interrupted.

"You're going to insist on that, aren't you," Pyrus hissed, then sighed, "fine… whatever. Anyway," she got back on track, "the virus can't infect his older operating systems. A similar thing happens when new operating systems are introduced to the market. Hackers like myself, often make new viruses to mess with them. A strange thing happens sometimes," she brought up an image of Bumblebee next to the Ratchet one, "The new viruses have no effect on the old systems. They just can't penetrate, replicate or infect. I believe that 'Pyrus Virus' is going through the same thing. If I can isolate what makes Ratchet's systems so unique, I can integrate it into Bumblebee and Bulkhead so the virus won't be able effect them any longer. After that, all it will take is for it to die out on its own and start repairs to their systems. That was the good news…"

"What's the bad news," Prowled asked.

She brought up an image of Bulkhead. There were areas of pulsating red that covered his extremities and head.

"As you can see," she started to explain, "The red areas are virus infected. It is mainly in the arms, legs and unfortunately his head. The virus has spread throughout his systems, but apparently has not infected the Spark system… from what Ratchet and I could tell."

"If that was just the bad news," Optimus braced himself, "I don't know if I want to know the worse news."

Pyrus sighed as she brought back up the image of Bumblebee, with similar red areas marking sites of infection. Unlike Bulkhead's image, the red covered his entire body.

"Bumblebee… is completely infected," she seemed to share everyone's feelings, "from his main processors to his shock absorbers… everything… including his Spark. I," she turned her head away, "I don' know if he can be saved…"

Sari covered her mouth as tears rolled down her cheeks, "no… no… NO!" She ran over to Pyrus, "there has to be something you can do!? You can use Ratchet's system and just let the virus die out and repair him! Right? Right!?"

Pyrus sighed, "Kid, his systems might already be too compromised… if we were able to get rid of the virus, there might be nothing left of him. For all we know, he might already be gone."

"NO," Sari shook her head, "NO!"

She ran towards her room and slammed her door shut.

"I should go talk to her," Optimus started after her.

"No," Pyrus stopped him, "she needs to settle down first. Her emotions are on a rollercoaster ride and not the good kind… if there was a good kind," she mumbled the last part, "you're not going to win any father of the year awards rushing in there. Just let her cry herself out."

Optimus sighed, "okay," she did know much about these things.

"Ratchet," she called out, "I'm coming back in and we're going to figure this out."

"I'll be waiting for you," he answered back.

Optimus really did hope that she could figure out what to do; for Bulkhead's and Bumblebee's sake and for Sari as well. They all had to be strong, not only for themselves, but for each other.


	7. A Time to Cry, a Time to Act!

Alright, it's a short chapter this time. I feel like I've gotten everything I wanted and going any farther would be too much. Some chapters will be long and others will be short. It's all in what's going on… of course, I could just be getting lazy…

Anyway, no reviews and no personal thanks, but I would like to say thank you to all that took their time to read my story.

See you next chapter.

Oh and for all thoses in the States, Happy Thanksgiving. And for all those who aren't, a Happy Day to you.

* * *

**Chapter Seven: A Time to Cry, a Time to Act!**

She was asleep on the tire bed that Bumblebee and Bulkhead had made for her when she first came to live with them. Gently covering her with a blanket, Optimus whispered her a good night. He quietly moved out of her room and closed the door.

"Is she asleep," Prowl asked.

"Yes," Optimus nodded his head, "I think she… 'cried' herself to sleep."

Prowl looked down at the floor; he would never show his true feelings; it just wasn't part of his nature. Optimus could tell he was feeling the same way he was. It was only natural to feel distress over someone you called friend or teammate. Especially if there was nothing you could do. They just had to leave it in the hands of Ratchet and an organic they barely knew. Well, at least what they knew about her was not exactly good. That wasn't entirely true itself either, they knew that she was good with computers and programs.

"Do you think they'll be okay," Optimus broke the silence, "do you think Ratchet and Pyrus can help them?"

"If we didn't think they could," Prowl answered, "then we would be in a completely different situation. The Key called upon her for help. The Key is part of the Allspark and it shapes everything we do and will be. We, as Autobots, have put our faith in it, then we should put our faith in those that it chooses."

"Wow," Optimus was impressed, "is that from your Cyber Ninja training?"

"Are not all Autobots taught to respect the Allspark," Prowl asked, "then shouldn't we respect its will."

Optimus gave a small chuckle, "I guess it only makes sense that we should."

The sound of small running feet came from the hallway; it was Pyrus.

"What's going on," Optimus was surprised.

"They're overheating," she ran to her bags, "we need to cool them down at quickly as we can."

He instantly thought to how the computer was when he was checking it over. The wires and chips had begun to melt. Was the same thing happening to Bumblebee and Bulkhead? Ratchet did say that they're core temperatures were elevated.

"What can we do," Optimus knew there was nothing he could do.

"I've got some canisters with a special coolant in it," she went through her bags quickly, "got it!"

"Ratchet," he turned to the modified TV, "what's going on!?"

"Bothe Bumblebee's and Bulkhead's systems are overheating," Ratchet was nearly yelling as he was furiously working on medical equipment, "if they get any hotter, their internal wires and circuits are going to fry."

"Literally," Optimus could hear Pyrus call out as she entered the lab.

Ratchet quickly picked her up and put her on the table with Bumble. Throwing a silver canister towards him, she leaned over and started to spray an aerosol into his chest cavity.

"Make sure to get every single wire and circuit you can," she called over her shoulder.

"I know! I know," Ratchet yelled back.

They sprayed throughout Bumblebee's and Bulkhead's chests.

"I'm out," Ratchet looked over at Pyrus.

"There's more on the floor," she didn't miss a beat.

He grabbed another canister and started to spray more. The flashing screen stopped and indicated that the emergency was over.

Ratchet sighed, "finally."

"Agreed," Pyrus wiped her unseen forehead.

"Is everything alright in there," Optimus wanted an update.

"For now," Ratchet went over to the console, "they have cooled down enough that their circuits should be fine."

"For now," Pyrus sounded grim, "we have to try the prototype out and now."

"Try what," Optimus wanted in on what they were talking about.

"I have Ratchet's operating system isolated and a prototype ready for testing," she explained, "but I just haven't done the testing part yet. I don't know what it will do to their systems… especially with how compromised Bumblebee's system is…"

"In other words Prime," Ratchet finished for her, "we need to make a decision on what to do."

A decision? A decision that had to be made to save or possibly destroy his crew… his friends. Was Ratchet asking him to make such an important? It was true that he had made important decisions in the past, but there were so many different results. One had turned his friend into a technorganic spider that sided with Decepticons. One other choice left him nearly offline permanently. How could he choose between the lives of two crew members?

"Do it," a little voice came from behind him, "we have to do something. We just can't stand around while Bumblebee and Bulkhead fade away."

"Sari," Optimus saw who it was.

"We have to do something," she repeated herself, "if there's a chance that it might work then shouldn't we do what we can," she wiped a tear from her eye, "there's a time to cry and then there's a time to act. And to tell you the truth," she smiled up at him, "I'm tired of crying."

"Sari," Optimus smiled in admiration of her strength.


	8. Experiment in Programming

I just keeping moving along and I'm not going away for a long time. I think is this the longest time I've sent on a story, with constant updates. I guess I actually have this one planned out… surprising. I've admit that I've hit a few snags here and there, but I think it's going along smoothly. Though, I don't know how many more chapters there will be or if I'll do that other thing I wanted to do. I guess its all part of the creative process. I was waiting to see how people responded to this. From the three reviews I've gotten, it's been pretty positive and there are a lot of visitors to the story, so I suppose it's good. Anyway, no shout outs this chapter, but thanks go out to those who took their time to read my story.

Until next time.

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Experiment in Programming**

"Why would I choose to play for a side now? Why should I care about the fate of alien robots and a little girl? So often I have ruined lives of those I don't care about or know. Why would it matter now… other than the fact they are so much bigger than me and they could easily squish me. I suppose that is a good threat… Either way," Pyrus leaned up against brick wall, "there is no turning back now… and I suppose I do feel a little guilty about the current situation… though it's not my fault that he got infected by my little… Frankenstein." She took in a deep breath and released it, "I still wonder though… why do I care? I thought that I had hardened my heart so long ago. A kid like Sari should get use to these kinds of things. I could just walk away now," she looked around, "nobody is out here. No one would know…," she looked around one more time, and then headed for the door, "then again, all my stuff is here and I am still rather curious to how my creation came to be here."

Sari impatiently tapped her foot on the floor, "where is she?"

"She said she would be back in a minute or two," Optimus reminded her.

"She could have run off for all we know," she pointed out, "and why aren't you keeping an eye on her!?"

"I believe that her curiosity has been sparked enough to keep her around," Prowl inserted his opinion, "also, I tried my luck at her security."

"Did you get passed the log in," Optimus' curiosity was sparked.

"Yes, but that's about it," he admitted, "this is one thing that I found… interesting… if not redeeming about her."

"And that would be," Sari was skeptical.

"Like the vigilant Watchdog, I shall overseer all' was scrolling across the screen," he quoted, "rather inspiring."

"I came up with that when I first designed Watchdog," Pyrus walked in on the conversation, "if you done talking about me, shall we commence the grand experiment?"

"Is that what you're calling it," Sari started to steam, "you're not even taking it seriously."

"And naming the virus after me is any better," Pyrus shot right back at her.

Sari had to admit defeat on that.

"So, is Ratchet ready," Pyrus grew serious.

"Yes," Optimus answered with a nod, "are you sure this is going to work?"

"I believe Ratchet said it himself," she quoted, "there are no guarantees in life."

"And these two won't be alive much longer if you keep yammering out there," Ratchet more than a little cranky.

"Settle down," Pyrus sighed, "I'll be there in a minute; I just have to download Watchdog's primary programming into my main computer."

"Its primary programming," Sari asked, "I thought it already had Watchdog on it?"

"All of my computers have some type of Watchdog on it, but I have broken it do into separate components for each computer type," she explain while she hooked up some wires to her main computer, "this one has the hacker protection on it; when someone tries to get into my system, it guards the doors and sends the hacker packing with an extra gift from my malware computer. That's this one with the Jolly Roger; it contains all the malware that I run into or create. The one with the 'Beware of Dog' warning is completely dedicated to Watchdog and all its extensive operating systems. When all three computers as hooked up, Watchdog is in full active mode."

"Then why not just use that computer," Sari interrupted.

Pyrus sighed, "Because, I can't directly control it when it is working. I have to stop it and rewrite the programming. I did it like that to simply my workload when I'm working on a project. Watchdog could do its thing, while I did mine. If a virus popped up, but I'm too busy with hacking, it could start protecting, analyzing and containing it until I was able to get to it. Also," she added, "it won't explode while I'm doing it manually."

"I thought so," Prowl was intrigued.

"Uploading all three aspects along with the control of the main computer, I can manually assist and maintain Watchdog while Ratchet's operating system protocols are being up integrated into Bulkhead," she finished the upload.

"You're doing Bulkhead first," Optimus inquired.

"Ratchet if you please," she wasn't in the mood to explain anymore.

"We decided that since Bulkhead's systems are more stable that we should try it on him first," Ratchet explained, "if it doesn't work, he wouldn't be as likely to crash," he hinted at Bumblebee's degraded state.

"Open up," Pyrus' voice sounded in the Med Bay.

"Me too," Sari must have followed her.

Optimus was expecting Pyrus or Ratchet to tell her to go and wait outside, but neither of them did. They probably knew that she would argue with them and win or just wouldn't leave. Why expend the energy when it was needed elsewhere. Ratchet put his hands down; Sari and Pyrus climbed on to each. Placing Sari next to Bumblebee and Pyrus next to Bulkhead, Ratchet released a heavy sigh.

"You have the protocols ready," Pyrus asked him as she handed him wires that were connected to her computer.

"You have the safety on," Ratchet asked back as he hooked them into Bulkhead's exposed chest.

They both nodded at once; they both knew they had done their respective work. Now it was up to their programs, protocols and Bulkhead's will. Ratchet started type on the console as Pyrus started on her computer. Sari watched in silence as they went to work. With one more nod, they both pressed enter on their respective keyboards.

"Program: Downgrade is a go," Pyrus looked back at Ratchet.

"Bulkhead's spark is holding steady," Ratchet reported.

"Do you think this will work," Optimus asked Prowl as they watched the whole procedure from the TV monitor.

"It is hard to say. Ratchet is a good Medic and Pyrus has proven to be a good programmer, together, they could fix Bumblebee and Bulkhead," Prowl reasoned.

Optimus tried to smile, but he wasn't in the mood. Instead, he just watched them work.

"The integration is going well," Pyrus seemed pleased.

"15% of the virus has been removed from his extremities," Ratchet shared her feelings, "Its actually working!"

"What? Can't trust in your own handy work," Pyrus smirked.

"Humph," Ratchet only answered.

"Right, keep an eye on the screen," Pyrus went back to work.

They were in perfect harmony; one would call to the other with how their end was doing. She kept her eye on the downloading program and he kept an eye on Bulkhead's stats. A small smile appeared on Ratchet's face, like he was enjoying all this. Maybe it reminded him of the Great War, though he never seemed to think fondly of those cycles. But there was something about this situation that brought something out in him that had been buried for a long time. He never talked about the War in great extent and even hinted that he would prefer to keep it where it was; in the past. But there was something about working furiously, trying to save a life or two that made him smile. It was only for a moment, but it something struck Optimus deep in the processors.

"How are his vitals," Pyrus asked without looking about from her screen.

"Holding steady," he reported, "with a few abnormalities."

"Abnormalities? What kind of abnormalities," she was concerned.

"Just a few unusual bleeps, nothing to worry about," Ratchet acted like it was nothing, "these kinds of things are to be expected when you're doing a delicate procedure."

"I still don't like it," Pyrus growled, "let me have a view on my computer."

Ratchet set up a link to her computer and transferred the data. She went over the scans and started to type on her keyboard.

"… it's adapting," she grumbled, "Watchdog can't delete it fast enough!"

"The scans are fine," Ratchet argued, "there's but a few..."

"I have a feeling… I've seen this before," she stopped him mid sentence, "the virus is moving to other areas that have not been downgraded yet. It's burrowing deeper into his system. We have to keep it away from his Spark and central processors!"

Ratchet was about to say something, but the alarm went off indicating that something was wrong. The virus was starting to move into his Spark chamber and was trying to back through the natural defense system that incased it. However, the defense was useless against an unknown intruder.

"You keep him stable," Pyrus called out as she quickly, "I'll block it so Watchdog can catch up with it."

They both went straight to work. Ratchet was doing everything in his power to keep Bulkhead's Spark intact and from being infected. Pyrus was manually building walls around the Spark system while Watchdog brought up the rear; destroying the virus as it came.

"It's heading for his central processor," Ratchet yelled out, "I can't defend both!"

"You're going to have to! I'll move up there when I'm sure his Spark is safe," she shouted back, "stay with me soldier!"

He stood up straight, like at attention. Shaking his head, he must have come back to his senses. He started typing again on the keyboard, not letting the alarm bother him. Moving his eyes back and forth between the central processor and Spark, somehow he managed to maintain both evenly. Lose of either one would be devastated. Either spending the rest of his life as an oil drooling drone or going offline, neither was an option at the moment.

"Got it! The Spark is safe from infection," Pyrus smiled, "concentrate on the central processor!"

"Way ahead you kid," Ratchet had an eerily similar smile on his face as he switched over to Bulkhead's processor.

"Kid huh," Pyrus snicker, "You just keep up with me old timer."

Both smiling a similar smile, they began to expel the rest of the virus from Bulkhead's body. Ratchet was fending it off while Pyrus brought up with rear with Watchdog. The alarm had stopped and the image of Bulkhead slowly started to have less red.

"Only 3% left," Pyrus called out; signs of fatigue in her voice.

"You getting tired," Ratchet smirked.

"I could go all night," Pyrus answered back.

"Looks like we won't have to," Ratchet sighed with relieve, "it's gone."

It was true; there wasn't a speck of red to be seen.

"I'll run a scan to see if there is a residually virus left," Pyrus shared his sigh.

Ratchet went back to the console, "I'll start a diagnostic on him to see where the damage is."

"Is it over," Sari looked cautiously over at Bulkhead.

"Yup… you friend is clear," Pyrus smiled, "as for damage…," she looked over at Ratchet.

"It will take awhile for a full scan and it will let his systems rest," Ratchet reported, "if you need to refuel, you might want to do it now."

She nodded her head, "yeah, I could use a drink."

"Same here," Sari agreed.

Ratchet set out his hand for Sari and Pyrus to climb on. Sari did, but Pyrus jumped down to the floor herself. She waited for Ratchet to set down Sari and motioned for her to follow. Sari quickly ran over to her, but turned around.

"Don't worry Bumblebee, Ratchet and Pyrus will fix you next," she called out and then headed out the open door.

"Yeah… we'll try," Pyrus whispered as she headed out the door.

"That was very impressive," Optimus congratulated her as she entered the main room.

"Nothing unusual for me," she admitted, "except for the alien robot thing and a life hanging in the balance."

"It was amazing," Sari burst out, "you and Ratchet were like reading each other's mind! You both knew exactly what to do!"

"We… we have minds that think alike," she seemed uneasy; "we both understand the subtle complexities of operating systems, basic programming and defragmenting… I need a drink and some fresh air…"

She headed for her mini-frig and grabbed a water bottle from it. Twisting off the cap, she took a big drink and exited the building.

"Was it just me or did she not seem excited," Sari asked.

"Maybe all the excitement has worn her out," Optimus guessed, "what do you think Prowl? Prowl?"

Prowl, however wasn't there.


	9. Revealed! Creator and Plan

Chapter nine and still only three reviews... Oh well. Anyway, I know I just updated yesterday, but as I've stated in previous chapters, I've got this one planned out. I've tried to work on other stories, but I am having writier's block on those. I only seem to have this one on my mind. Strange, huh? At this point, I would go onto shout outs, but sadly again, I do not have any.

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Revealed! Creator and Plan**

The fading night breeze was giving way to the heavy, morning air of the city. Sunlight was starting to find its way through maze of building; managing to shine on where Pyrus was sitting on the cool concrete of the abandoned car facility.

"That was intense…," she sighed, "I didn't think I made it that adaptable… then again, it almost destroy Watchdog when I first designed it. I suppose that I should have just left it as a prototype and not finished it… then again… it might have been more dangerous if left unfinished," she thought out loud, "no time to dwell in the past, but… why didn't it self destruct when I activated the code when I first started the downgrade? And why didn't it do that when it was finished with whatever computer I or Watchdog had infected? I will have to full analysis on all three strands when I get back to the warehouse."

"Why not do it now," a voice came of overhead.

"How long were you up there," she looked up.

"Long enough," Prowl jumped down from the shadows.

"So you heard everything, huh," she didn't seem to care.

"Yes… I am curious though," Prowl had questions, "why didn't you say something before? Surely if it's your creation, you have some type of Anti-Virus that could have destroyed it easily."

She snorted, "yes, I did… Watchdog. However, Pyrus Virus… she so rightfully named it," she indicated to Sari, "has evolved since it infected your friends. The self destruct code that I have written in it is either no longer working or there… I haven't determined which yet."

"If you were," Prowl started to ask.

"It wouldn't make a difference," she interrupted him, "Bumblebee still has an operational system. I designed the virus hybrid to destroy all data, systems, files and whatever else may be on the infected computer. It also sends me the information so I know who was trying to hack my system. When it is done and there is nothing left of the computer except for its shell, the virus self destructs and doesn't leave a trace."

"I doubt Bumblebee tried to hack you," Prowl rubbed his chin.

"No, the virus came from somewhere else," she agreed, "most likely when I had infected someone, they tried to get rid of it and might have messed up the core programming and the self destruct mechanism. Since it didn't destroy itself, it probably moved onto another computer system or went into spore mode."

"Spore mode," Prowl didn't understand.

"To make it...," she looked for the right words, "more organic in natural. I wanted to create something that acted exactly like a biological virus."

"Why," Prowl was still confused.

"Normal malware is so easy to get rid of these days," she shrugged her shoulders, "I was so tired of people trying to get into my systems… I needed to make something that would make them think twice about hacking me… the hybrid virus… Pyrus Virus was the answer. It not only made people scratch their heads and pull out their hair, they usually had to get a new computer in the process. It saved me a lot of headaches… but…"

Prowl asked, "but what?"

"It grew out of control," she admitted uncomfortably, "every time I would send it off; it would try to infect my computers as well… Watchdog would often have to destroy it… with difficulty."

"And explosions," Prowl added.

"Lost two computers to it," she semi-laughed, "I soon realized that my creation was turning on me… much like Dr. Frankenstein's monster… I destroyed it… the one that I had been using to infect. The two malware I combined to make it are still in existence. Separate of course."

"Are you going to tell everyone," Prowl grew stern.

"No…," she looked away from him, "are you?"

"… it's not mine to admit," he echoed from a previous conversation.

"Going to wait for my guilt to eat me from the inside out," she slowly stood up, "good luck with that."

"Not even remotely feeling guilty," Prowl probed.

"Didn't say that," she walked passed him, "I have a conscious, I just don't listen to it."

"Hopefully you will this time," he watched her.

"I'm helping out, aren't I," she looked over her shoulder.

"But are you doing everything you can," he left her with that question.

She snickered and shook her head, "dang ninja."

…

"How is he doing Ratchet," Optimus asked.

"The damage is minimal," Ratchet reported, "I should be able to repair him in no time."

"Can it wait until we're done with Bumblebee," Pyrus seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"I suppose," Ratchet mulled over it.

"Well go ahead and do what you can," she headed for her computers, "I need to figure out a new method… the virus figured out what we were doing right away. If we try the same procedure, it might start terminating his systems before we can stop it. Unlike you, my fingers don't move as fast as my mind… giving the virus time and holes to move through and get passed me… dangerous."

"What else can we do," Ratchet inquired.

"There is an experimental process I've been fiddling with," she sounded like she really didn't want to bring it up.

"And that would be," Prowl appeared.

"Where were you," Optimus asked.

"Taking in the last bit of night air," he eyed Pyrus.

"Back to subject," she wanted to make sure that no one noticed the stare, "I have been working with VR technology lately."

"VR? What's that," Sari asked.

"It's Virtual Reality," Optimus answered for Pyrus, "right?"

"Correct," she nodded her head, "the limitations of my body has halted my research and hacking in the past, but my mind has unlimited possibilities. Using Virtual Reality, I'm able to get into systems quicker and counteract people and security attempts."

"Whoa…," Sari was obviously impressed, "so you like send your mind into cyber space and just use it to hack computers?"

"Something of that nature," Pyrus smiled.

Optimus wasn't sure, "but how can that help with Bumblebee?"

"Well," she started up her holographic projector, "it's like this," she stood up and walked over to the image of Bumblebee, "with the virus being spread across his entire system, the attack must be precise and quick. The question is where to start the attack?"

"If I may make a suggestion," Ratchet spoke up, "if you going for a vital system that could easily spread to the others, the Spark system is the best place to begin. If you hit there first, it should disperse into all the other systems."

"Mmm…," she rubbed her chin, "you know the systems better than me… but what about the central processor? I worry that it might start aggressively attacking it if we start at the Spark."

"I can handle it from here," Ratchet volunteered.

"And if I upload Watchdog into you two," Pyrus looked over at Optimus and Prowl, "you should be able to push back the virus."

"Us," Optimus had an idea to what she was hinted about, "you want us to go inside Bumblebee virtually and take on the virus."

"Of course," she folded her arms, "you have that kind of technology where you're from, right?"

"Yes, it is use to stimulate battles when bots are going through Elite Guard training," Optimus explained, "it's much safer than actual hand to hand combat."

"Then you'll be fine," Pyrus snorted.

"Why don't you do," Sari folded her arms.

"Because I can be on my computer controlling Watchdog and assisting them," she smirked, "if I'm in there, Watchdog will be running on automatic and might start going after Bumblebee's vital systems or even them," she motioned back to Prime and Prowl, "I will be somewhat emerged so I can do it quicker than my fingers, but I will have Watchdog on leash… if you will."

"Is it the only way," Optimus tried to think of another option.

"If you have a suggestion or able to give Bumblebee more time, then yes," Pyrus was obviously being sarcastic.

Optimus got the hint, "how long until you'll be ready?"

"I'll have to get with Ratchet to modify my VR system to read your… um mental waves," she started for the Med Bay.

"Prowl are you okay with this," Optimus asked.

He only nodded his head and headed for his room, possibly to meditate.

"The question is," Ratchet got Optimus' attention, "are you okay with this?"

He wasn't sure. He had done plenty of simulations during his Elite Guard training, but that's all they were; simulations. This was for real; Bumblebee's Spark was on the line. If this didn't work, Pyrus made is sound like nothing else would work or there wasn't enough time for a second try.

"It's going to be okay Big Bot," Sari tried to cheer him up, "I know you and Prowl can do it."

"Thanks Sari," Optimus smiled.


	10. Journey to the Center of Bumblebee

This chapter took a little out of me... plus I had to go back to school... never helps. Anyway, I think I'm getting to that point where I'm having conflicting ideas on how to write. This could mean that there might not be an update for a little while... plus, as I said before, schoo and finals. I hope to keep writing because it's a major stress reliever for me. I've kept you too long, but I have one more thing to do before I go. I would like to give a couple of shout outs. Yes, two people review... after the long drought... yeah! Many thanks go out to Optimus Bob and TheGordonFreeman for the kind reviews. And of course, thank you to all that took your time to read my story.

Until next time.

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**Chapter Ten: Journey to the Center of Bumblebee**

"The pattern doesn't vary from ours too much… interesting," Pyrus remarked.

"So what are you saying," Ratchet huffed, "we're not all that different."

"Something like that," she answered.

They had been working on getting the VR system to be compatible with Autobot processors. With a few snags, arguments and apologies, they were slowly but surely making progress. Ratchet was coaching Pyrus through as she wrote the program. She had to tell him a few times that it was impossible to do what he wanted, so they had to figure out another way to do it. Ratchet was getting frustrated and Pyrus was more than annoyed. But somehow they were able to do it.

"Now that we have the program all set," Pyrus sighed.

"And that was the easy part," Ratchet turned back to the image of Bumblebee on his screen, "now we need to get Prime and Prowl into his system."

"While you and Watchdog take care of his central processor," she added, "as for getting them in… can't we just do a direct plug in?"

"Plug in!? You want to wipe their processors," he yelled at her.

She covered her ears, "watch the ears! How am I supposed to know that," she yelled back.

"… I don't know," Ratchet didn't know quite say, but yelled, "what method do you to get into the virtual reality program!?"

"I sync my computer with my mind and hold the waves at a steady level for mental variants," she continued to yell.

"That might work…," Ratchet agreed with that suggestion.

"… then… we should do that," she stopped yelling, "I guess I should imprint Optimus' and Prowl's minds… processors… on to my computer"

"I'll start setting up Bumblebee for the procedure," Ratchet turned to the console.

An hour later…

"Alright," Pyrus chugged down some orange juice, "Optimus' and Prowl's specks are loaded into the VR system and Watchdog is downloaded into them."

"Are you sure you're feeling alright," Sari looked closer at her.

"Personal space kid," she warned her, "and yeah… I'm doing alright… this is just messing with my sleep cycle," she yawned.

"Sorry if we're causing you trouble," Optimus apologized.

"It's alright…," she rubbed her unseen eyes, "not really… but it's not like I have anything else better to do."

"No lives to ruin," Sari asked sarcastically.

"I thought you were starting to like me," she acted like she was hurt.

"I know what you do and it is wrong," Sari folded her arms, "so even though you're helping us out, you're still a bad guy."

"Sari," Optimus chided her.

"Nice logic kid," Pyrus really didn't care what she had to say. "Okay Ratchet," she called up to the TV monitor, "their processors are sync and Watchdog is loaded. All we need to do is merge them and myself… partially, into Bumblebee's system."

"What about quarantine," Prowl asked.

"It's well passed the 24 hour contagious period," Pyrus said as she worked on her computer.

"Contagious period… like a cold," Sari came over to her.

"Something like that…," she was concentrating on what she was doing.

"What she means is that, Bumblebee," Ratchet came over the TV monitor, "couldn't pass the virus on even if he was awake. The virus is too anchored in his systems to spread to another. With Bulkhead and I being cleared of the virus, we can't give you or Prowl the virus either."

"So we can come into Med Bay without worry," Optimus put it all together.

"Where do you think we were going to do this crazy plan? Out there where I can't watch your systems? No way," Ratchet asked sarcastically.

"Well… I didn't know…," Optimus fumbled with his words.

"You young bots don't think these days," Ratchet sighed.

"Oh leave him be old timer," Pyrus smirked, "he can't help if he's a little naïve… he just needs some more experience… like you and me."

"Ha," Ratchet gave a loud laugh, "you're less experience than he is. You're just a… Protoform."

"I should take that as an insult," she looked to Sari, who nodded her head to confirm, "thought so… come on you two. It's time to journey to the center of Bumblebee."

"And destroy some Pyrus Virus along the way," Sari cheered as she quickly followed after her.

Pyrus only shook her head at Sari's comment. Optimus could only guess it was because Sari didn't completely understand the reality of the situation. She knew that Bumblebee was still in trouble, but thought that the plan was fool proof. Optimus knew that what they were about to do could be dangerous to both Bumblebee and Prowl and himself. From the way Pyrus explained it, it was going to be more than just a mere simulation. It was going to be real. The past simulations he had been through seemed real, never actually inflicted any processor damage. This, however, was different. This wasn't just a program; this was sending his mind into Bumblebee's systems and fighting off a dangerous virus. Ratchet warned that if they took virtual damage that it would affect their real processors. Too much damage could severely and permanently damage them. It was risky, but if it could save Bumblebee then it was worth it.

They filed down the hallway towards an unknown future; on to a journey that could save a life or end a few. They all wanted to play a role in the dangerous play they were about to play. Some would have to stay behind, some would have to go into a friend and one would have to wait in between worlds to assure a smooth crossing from what was real and what was in the mind.

"You three ready," Ratchet sighed.

"As ready as we'll ever be," Optimus calmed himself.

Prowl only nodded.

"… yes," Pyrus seemed not to thrilled.

"Having second thoughts," Ratchet noticed her tone.

Pyrus placed a headset under her hood, but supposedly on her head and slid an eye piece over where her eye should be, "I'm just hoping that I don't get a shock this time."

"Shock," Ratchet was a little suspicious, "you have done this before, right?"

"Seven times," she admitted, "but only did it three times successfully…"

"Oh boy," Ratchet ran his hand down his face.

"Well, it's much simpler for you guys because it's one processor communicating with another," she tried to defend herself, "with me there are biological factors interfering."

"You still want to do this," Optimus gave her the option to sit it out.

She huffed, "yes. Just as long as Ratchet keeps the virus away from Bumblebee's central processor and Sari watches my vitals."

"Will do," Sari saluted.

"Remember what I told you," Pyrus went over the plan one more time, "makes sure my heart rate doesn't get to high, my brain waves stay within normal and…"

"Hit the W key to warn you that your vitals aren't normal and that in 2 minutes you'll be exiting from the VR," Sari had only heard it a thousand times.

"This is important," Pyrus stressed, "you are to keep your eyes on that screen until this is over. My life is in your hands kid. I'm trusting you like nobody before."

Sari got it, "okay, my eyes won't leave the screen until you, Optimus and Prowl are safe and back home… umm… in reality…?"

She sighed, "Thanks… Alright Ratchet, Prime, Prowl… let's do this."

They all nodded. Prowl and Optimus laid flat on the floor, since Bulkhead and Bumblebee were taking up the tables. Pyrus leaned up against the wall of Med Bay; she said that her body goes limp when she first enters virtual reality. Sari was watching the secondary computer that displayed Pyrus' vitals. Ratchet prepared the computer and the Autobots' processors for emergence. With a nod of her head, Pyrus signaled to Ratchet to begin. At the same time, they both hit the final key; starting the program.

He had done it so many times before. He knew what it was going to be like. He knew to expect twists and turns, but what kind was still a mystery. Optimus knew that this was an important mission he was going on. Though it was still virtual reality, it still had effects on the real world and those who walked it.

The Med Bay darkened and strange sensation came over Optimus; it was nothing new; just his processor being transferred. Before him there was an odd tunnel forming; light was twisting and swirling until it became a solid tube. The feeling of gravity hit him and he fell to the base of the tunnel. Shaking his head, Optimus looked around.

"That was an interesting experience," Prowl landed just a few feet away.

"It's about the same for the simulated training exercises," Optimus thought out loud.

"Really," Prowl looked around, "I've never participated in those."

"You don't seem the type to train like that," Optimus agreed.

"Oh good," a voice echoed around them, "You made it in one piece. That's a good sign that the program is functioning correctly."

"Pyrus… is that you," Optimus scanned the tunnel for a sign of her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"It is," her voice came again, "remember, I'm doing a partial mergence. I will not have a physical form here… just my voice."

"You didn't get shocked on your way in," Prowl asked.

"No and I'm thankful for that," she snickered; "now you don't have time to be standing around. You two have to follow this tunnel directly into Bumblebee's Spark system. From there you'll have to defend and… clean out the virus."

"Right," Optimus started down the tunnel.

Both Optimus and Prowl ran down the seemingly endless tunnel. The light grew dimmer and dimmer as they made their way through. The light of the tunnel seemed to give way to dark undulating walls.

"What is that," Optimus could help but stare at the moving walls.

"That's the virus," Pyrus reported, "It's covering Bumblebee's entire system. It's going to get a lot thicker when you get to the Spark."

"How is Bumblebee holding up," Optimus wanted an update.

There was a pause.

"Ratchet says that the virus is on the move," she came back, "but he's able to fend it off and Watchdog is doing its job… without exploding," she added.

"Not exploding is good," Prowl agreed.

Optimus looked over to him to say something, "Prowl, you're back in your Cybertronian form."

"As are you," Prowl answered without looking in his direction.

"Of course you would be," Pyrus sighed, "these are your virtual forms. They are as you see yourself. Even though you've been on Earth for some time now, you still identify with your… original forms."

"So I may change if it I wish so," Prowl asked.

"Yes," Pyrus confirmed.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Prowl's body shift to his Earth form. He always seemed more comfortable on Earth than he ever did on the ship. Maybe he was more comfortable in his Earth form than his Cybertronian one.

"Much better," he did seem to move a little better.

"Okay, you guys are about to punch the core," Pyrus called out, "it's going to get rough from here. The virus is trying to pool all its resources at the Spark. I'm going to send Watchdog out ahead to slow it down. I'm also going to try and inhibit its movement by sealing some non-essential systems."

"What should we do when we get to Bumblebee's Spark system," Optimus knew it was almost time for action.

"Clear as much of the virus as you can," she ordered, "then protect it from further infection."

"There's only two of us," Optimus was sure about the plan, "won't it just go through other passages to get to the Spark?"

"Again," she huffed, "I'm sealing off non-essential systems. That will funnel the virus down two remaining system where you two can each take a post and destroy the virus as it comes. There should be a divide in the tunnel coming up. Each of you take a tunnel and it will lead you to the position you need to be at."

"You and Ratchet have devised a rather clever system," Prowl couldn't help but smile.

"You have my compliments," Optimus shared a smile with him.

"Don't count your gears before they're made," Pyrus wasn't in the mood to take compliments, "we're not even sure if this will work… Darn it!"

"Pyrus! What's going on," Optimus called out, but there was no answer.

"Pyrus! Pyrus," Prowl stopped running along with Optimus.

The divide was just up ahead they should have kept running, but the way she yelled out made them worry. The tunnel started to quiver and the light that was still visible fading in and out. The virus filled walls started to move in a violent manner. The sound of crackling could be heard echoing up the slowly dimming tunnel. It got closer and closer until it rushed passed Optimus and Prowl. It sent a slight shock through their bodies, but nothing severe.

"You okay Prowl," Optimus asked as he checked himself over.

"No apparent damage," Prowl reported.

"What was that," Optimus looked to where the sound and shock originated.

"Pyrus," Prowl called out.

There was no answer.

"Maybe she was knocked off," Optimus thought back to what she said.

"Or maybe something more," Prowl pointed to a strange glowing point in the tunnel.

They stayed were they stood, just in case whatever the glow was dangerous. The single point started to draw what looked like to be an outline. It traced and swiveled as it made its creation. The glow stopped as color started to fill in the outline. It had a black bottom, with a white center and black arms. A hood covered its head and strange appendages coming from its back. The color stopped and it fell to the ground.

"Pyrus," Prowl asked as if he knew what it was.

The hooded figured looked up, "this is not good…. Not good at all…"


	11. Battle for Bumblebee Begins

It's getting exciting, isn't it? No? I guess it's just me. Anyway, I pretty much have this story planned out and I'm moving on to a second part… don't know if I will publish it though. I do have another idea for different story, partially inspired by the second Transformers' Movie (didn't enjoy most of that one, first one will always Rock). I do have a shout out and it goes to TheGordonFreeman. And, of course, thanks go out to all those who took their time to read my story.

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: Battle for Bumblebee Begins**

"Not good, not good, not good," Pyrus was pacing back and forth.

"Pyrus," Optimus tried to get her attention, "Pyrus," she wouldn't stop pacing, "PYRUS!"

"WHAT," she yelled back up at him.

"What happened," he asked in a more calm voice.

She released a heavy sigh, "I don't know, one minute I'm typing in command codes for Watchdog and the next I'm fully merged in here… Why, I don't know," she didn't wait for him to ask.

"Is it because of biological factors," Prowl remembered that she had problems before.

"No… I don't think so," she pondered, "I usually get kicked out if my vitals go berserk or my brain waves are not within normal range that I programmed… I should have just ended up in the 'real world' with a nasty headache."

"So this hasn't happen before," Optimus inquired.

"No…," she thought, "not even close… unless," she turned her back to them and started to pace again, "unless the virus had something to do with this. I was blocking in every way I could and probably ticking it off in the process. It might have tried to travel over to my computers and destroy my efforts in spoiling it. Since I have all those security protocols in place, it couldn't get passed them," she was starting to put it all together, "so it went after the VR system I was 'hooked' into. It couldn't kick me out because Sari is in control of that, so," she finally took a breath in, "it brought me in here… not good."

Optimus had an idea, "can't Sari get you out? The system you set up. Shouldn't she be able to log you out?"

"…," she frowned, "hold on."

She placed her hands in front of her and spread them apart. A keyboard formed from thin air. Typing what seemed to be a random assortment of letters and numbers, she appeared to be growing annoyed. She pressed enter and waited, but a big red X appeared.

"Grr," she growled as she shattered the keyboard.

Optimus was shocked, "what's wrong!?"

"The virus is in control," she continued to growl, "I can't access the outside computer. We need to get to the Spark and get this over as soon as possible."

Spreading her hands once again, she brought up a different screen this time. She started to press on it and all sort of things began to appear on the Autobots.

"What… what is this," Optimus looked over his body.

"I'm upgrading you two," she concentrated on the screen, "I still can get into the backup program I put in place… just in case something like this happened."

His plating started to be covered by armor; he pulled out his axe and it was now double-headed with a spear like end.

"I hope you like the Labrys, it is an ancient weapon, but it should suit your needs," she smiled, "I also improved your armor. I took Watchdog and integrated into your superstructures and weapons, so you'll have an easier time cutting the virus down to size."

"I rather like the improvements," Prowl was pleased with his upgrade.

Prowl's body seemed about the same from his normal form, but his legs seemed a little thicker and his helmet was elongated. A strange stick protruded from his back. He pulled it out and it sprang into the shape of a bow.

"You're a ninja right," she wasn't really expecting him to answer, "so I thought I would give you some Japanese armor and weapons."

Prowl gave his strange smile of satisfaction, "indeed… but what about you?"

She too gave an odd smile, "you think I would program a weak avatar?"

The two objects from her back stretched out.

"What are those," Optimus wasn't sure of what to make of them.

"They are like bird wings," Prowl knew what they were.

"Yes… you see when I first started hacking," Pyrus started to explain, "I thought about calling myself 'The Angel of Death'… but it was already taken," she sounded a little disappointed.

"Is Pyrus of a similar meaning," Optimus asked.

"No. It's the family name of pears… a fruit… we eats those… and I like pears…," she admitted, "and my first big virus was distributed with a picture of a pear… so… it stuck."

Optimus was expecting her name to mean something a little bit more… devastating or scary.

"Anyway," she continue, "when I first made the avatar, I used that idea and I ran with it… though you guys probably have no idea who or what 'The Angel of Death' is."

"Not really," Optimus had no clue.

"We'll be meeting her soon enough if we stand around here," Pyrus indicated for them to look up.

They turned their attention up and saw that the virus was moving towards them at a fast pace.

"Autobots, Transform and Roll Out," Optimus ordered.

He and Prowl transformed into their respective forms. Pyrus started to glow with an eerie black light and disappeared.

"Pyrus," Optimus transformed back.

"GO," she yelled, "I'm just moving through the circuitry! Let's go!"

Optimus changed back, "right!"

They sped out of there as fast as they could. The sound of scrapping metal soon followed after them. Optimus wanted to stop or turn around to see what was following them, but he knew it was no good.

"I think the virus is not happy," Pyrus voice came from the now bare walls.

"What would make you think that," Prowl was being sarcastic, though he didn't sound like it.

"Oh the fact that it's chasing after us," she knew it was a rhetorical question, but answered it anyway, "and destroying the tunnel as it goes along. Yeah, it's mad… we better get to the Spark before it over takes us."

"How much farther," Optimus asked.

"Prowl swing a left now," she ignored Optimus for the moment.

Prowl, without a word, swerved to left and down the divergence, leaving Optimus with Pyrus.

"We should be there in about 2 minutes," she got back to his question, "just keep driving as fast as you can. I'll see if I can slow them down."

A black light jumped from the walls and on the tunnel floor just behind Optimus. The tunnel turned dark and a tingling sensation ran through Optimus tires.

"Whoa," he couldn't help but exclaim.

"Sorry about that," the black light appeared on the wall, "that seemed to slow them down."

"What did you do," Optimus was curious since he couldn't turn around.

"Turned into an electric shock," she sounded casually.

"You can do that," Optimus was a little amazed.

"Oh course," she snickered, "this avatar is capable of many things. Transforming into other things is not that difficult. Besides," she added, "it's all about what my mind can think of. My mind rules all when I'm in here."

"Your mind…," for some odd reason her statement struck him.

"Heads up," she alerted him, "there's the Spark system."

Right before him, there was a set of doors that were starting to open. A bright blue light emanated from them and poured into the dark tunnel. The black light, that Optimus assumed was Pyrus, moved up to the opening doors. She emerged from the walls and opened up a keyboard.

"You better hurry," she called out, "the virus is catching up and I need to start closing the doors right now!"

Optimus didn't need to be told twice. He put the pedal to the metal and headed towards the now closing doors. From behind, he could hear the sound of metal scrapping again. The virus must have regrouped and was gaining speed. It was going to be close…

SCEECH! Optimus slammed on his brakes.

"Cut it any closer and you would have Optimus 'in half'," Pyrus commented as he transformed.

"Just like a little excitement," Optimus joked.

"Well it's about to get more exciting," Pyrus smirked.

Optimus turned around to see that several worm like creatures were flying towards him.

"This door is locked and infused with Watchdog," Pyrus slipped back into the walls, "I'm going to lock the other door where Prowl is and start working on Bumblebee's Spark. Have fun," her voice chimed.

"Thanks a lot," Optimus pulled out his axe, "alright time to go to work."

Swinging it around, he sliced through two of the virus creatures. They stopped and shattered into a thousand pieces. Two more came barreling at him and he made short work of them.

"This isn't as bad as I thought it would be," he smiled as he finished off the last of the virus creatures.

There were no more within the Spark chamber that he could see. From the way both Ratchet and Pyrus was explaining it, Bumblebee's Spark was suppose to be badly infected with the virus. The walls seemed to be solid and not moving, the Spark was glowing blue and its energy filled the place. It was quiet and calm; it didn't even seem like there was a problem.

"Optimus," it was Prowl, "how are things on your side?"

"Quiet," he reported.

"Don't get comfortable," Pyrus diffused from the wall, "I don't know how long the doors will last and I sense there is more in here than just those little bugs that you and Prowl fended off."

"I'll keep my optics open," Optimus wasn't too worried.

"Don't get cocky on me," she snapped, "you guys are my protection in here and I have a lot of work to do," she headed for the large, glowing orb.

"I think we can handle it," Optimus turned his attention to the door, "your program seems to be working."

She sighed, "again, do not get cocky."

Pyrus turned her back to him without another word. Optimus was a little hurt that she repeated herself; like he was a Protoform. Resting his axe handle on his shoulder, he stood guard at the door. The sound of a thousand, if not more, virus creatures clawing at the door, trying to get in. he did a quick glance over his shoulder to see how Pyrus was doing. She had a keyboard up and was punching a lot of keys. The Spark seemed to react to whatever she was doing.

Creak… Click… ZAP! SCREECH!

The door came alive with electricity. It must have been Pyrus' program, Watchdog. It seemed to be doing its job and doing it well. Optimus was impressed with her programming skills. Although, he started to wonder why she didn't use her gifts for better purposes, like improving computers or helping people with theirs. His thoughts were interrupted by an eerie red glow. He turned around to see that the Spark had changed from blue to red.

"Pyrus," Optimus dropped his axe.

"HELP," she called out.

A long tentacle extended out the Spark and wrapped around Pyrus. She was struggling as the tentacle started to pull her into the Spark.

"Pyrus," Optimus took hold of the axe and ran towards the odd sight.

"HELP ME!!! AGG," a red shock ran through her body, knocking her unconscious.

It pulled her in before Optimus could reach her.

"Optimus! Where's Pyrus," Prowl appeared.

"Something took her inside," Optimus gripped his weapon with two hands.

"And it looks like it wants more," Prowl pointed to four more tentacles came from the Spark.

"Then let's give it something to chew on," he readied himself to make a charge.


	12. You Have to Fight Bumblebee!

Okay, fair warning, this is a long chapter. So you might want to get comfortable, something to drink, maybe even some chips or cookies and I know you all have Transformers footie PJs… so get in those too. Anyway, it took a lot of energy to write the chapter, so I'll keep it short. My shout outs include, TheGordonFreeman and garnettfox. Your lovely reviews keep me going.

One more thing before I go, I've got finals coming up, so I might not update for about a week or so. Don't be sad, I'll be back.

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: You have to Fight Bumblebee!**

Their weapons were poised and ready. The tentacles whipped around like they were looking for them. The Spark was now completely red and pulsating with sinister energy. When Optimus first entered the chamber, the energy was familiar, even a little lively, much like Bumblebee. Now, it was oppressive and smothering. It was hard to bare.

"Are you alright Optimus," Prowl noticed his slowly buckling legs.

"Yeah," Optimus forced out, "I've just never felt anything like this before."

"That's because we have never encountered anything like this before," Prowl took a step forward, "but that is exactly what we encounter when we first came to this planet and it didn't stop us then. I was in trouble that day we came in contact with the Nanite creature. Bumblebee saved us all," he drew out his Shurikens, "personally, I've been waiting to repay the favor," his strange smile appeared on his face.

"Right," Optimus felt his legs become sturdy, "we owe it to Bumblebee and Pyrus."

"Then shall we save them," Prowl really didn't have to ask.

"Let's," Optimus brought up his double bitted axe.

Maybe it was just the excitement of it all or the feeling of doing something truly noble and heroic, but Optimus charged towards the tentacles without thinking it through. Prowl leaped into the air, activating his jump boosters for extra height. Swinging his axe around, Optimus chopped a tentacle in half. Prowl threw his Shurikens at the base of another, slicing right through. The two other tentacles withdrew back into the spark.

"It's regrouping," Optimus had seen this before.

"And I don't believe we did much damage," Prowl indicated to the pieces of tentacles that were rejoining with the Spark.

They fused back into the Spark and several more appeared, this time bigger than before.

"I think it is adapting," Prowl noticed the improvements.

"Probably hacking away at it won't work this time," Optimus gripped his axe tighter, "we need to go for the core of the problem," he started to run towards the Spark.

"Hold on," Prowl grabbed hold of Optimus shoulder, "that's Bumblebee's Spark. If we do any damage to it, it could hurt Bumblebee."

He was right. They had to be careful when doing anything in or around the Spark. Any damage to it could result in loss of Spark for Bumblebee.

"We need to get Pyrus out of there," Prowl brought Optimus out of it, "if we can get her out of there, she might be able to expel the virus from the Spark."

"How do we do that," Optimus thought he might have a plan.

"We need to get a message to Ratchet and Sari," he had some of sort of plan.

"Pyrus said she couldn't make contact with the outside computer," Optimus remembered, "the virus was in control."

"Then maybe I can surpass it," Prowl jumped back towards the door Optimus came in, "keep it busy while I try Matter over Processor," he called out as he sat down.

"Keep it busy," Optimus looked back at red glowing Spark, "how do I do that?"

It was too late, Prowl was already humming a strange little tune that he did when he mediated. Optimus looked over at the Spark, wondering how he could keep it busy. He also wondered if Prowl could reach Ratchet and Sari. Raising his axe, Optimus prayed to the Allspark that he could. He prayed to the Allspark that Bumblebee and Pyrus was alright.

Meanwhile in the Real World…

"Pyrus," Sari shook her vigorously, "Pyrus please wake up!"

"What's wrong," Ratchet looked over his shoulder.

"Pyrus' been knocked out," Sari still tried to wake her up, "her screen flashed and then she went really stiff and then passed out… should I unplug her headset," she reached for the plug.

"No! Don't do that," Ratchet yelled, "if you do that you could erase her processor or cause such a shock to her system that you could take her offline!"

"Eck," Sari withdrew her hand.

"How are her vitals hold up," Ratchet had to turn back to the console.

"They're all over the place," Sari stared at the screen.

"Did you try doing her exit strategy," Ratchet wanted to come over there, but couldn't.

"Yeah, but it keeps saying "Cannot allow"," she tried pushing the W key repeated.

"Something wrong… huh," an alert popped up on his screen, "both Prime and Prowl's stats are off the scanner!"

"What's going on Ratchet," Sari was starting to get scared.

Ratchet scanned through the incoming data, "if I had to guess, I would say that the virus is in control and was expecting this from the beginning."

"How is that possible," she asked, "how could is know what we were going to do?"

Ratchet sighed, "I don't know… but if we can't get them out of there, their processors could be permanently damaged… or worse," he indicated to darker outcomes.

Sari looked over at Pyrus, then back at Ratchet, "we have to do something…," the computer screen started to flash, "There's a message from Prowl."

"Prowl!? How is that possible," Ratchet was a little skeptical, "I can't ever access his core processor. How did he get a message out to us?"

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," Sari started to read the message, "he says that Bumblebee's Spark is completely infected and is now under control of the virus."

"Where's Pyrus? She should be able to dislodge it from there," Ratchet kept his optics on everyone's stats.

Sari covered her mouth in shock, "she's been taken in by the virus! She's inside Bumblebee's Spark and she can't get out. Prowl wondering if there's anything you can do from out here."

"Didn't you hear me before," he yelled, "I can't do anything from here! I'm locked out!"

"Yelling won't help," thought she did it herself, "can't you do something to Bumblebee's Spark from here that could help them in there?"

"…," an idea came to Ratchet, "I could disrupt his system… that could knock Pyrus free from the virus."

"Disrupt his system," she didn't understand, "what do you mean by that."

"It's an old medic trick," Ratchet came over to Bumblebee, "during the War, if an Autobot's Spark was in flux, you could apply a mild shock to their system and that would kick the Spark back into normal status."

"Kind of like a defibrillator and someone with a heart attack," that's what it sounded like to Sari.

"I don't know what a heart attack is or what a defibrillator is, but I'll just say yes," Ratchet brought out his jumper cables, "I just have to do a small jolt," he placed them near Bumblebee's open just. A small arch of electricity jumped between the clamps and the exposed circuitry, "that should do."

"How do we know if it worked," Sari looked back at the computer screen, hoping for another message.

Ratchet sighed, "only time will tell," he turned back his screen, "I hope they get out of this with their Sparks intact…"

Back inside Bumblebee…

"What was that," Optimus felt a shock run through his entire body.

"I think that might have been Ratchet's way of helping," Prowl awakened from his meditation.

SCREECH!!! The most terrible noise filled their auditory sensors. They both covered their ears as they looked to see what was going on. The Spark was starting to quiver and fade between red and blue. The tentacles were waving about frantically, like they had no control over their movements. A bubble started to form on the surface of the Spark.

"What is that," Optimus pointed it out.

Prowl wasn't going to wait around to see what came from it. He jumped up passed the violently swinging tentacles towards the growing bubble. It popped and released something. Prowl grabbed it as it fell to the ground. Landing softly, he took a back jump and landed next to Optimus. He looked down to see it was Pyrus in Prowl's hands.

"Where… what," she groggily asked.

"The virus took you into Bumblebee's Spark," Prowl kept his optics on the still flailing tentacles.

"So I'm not dead," she asked as she sat up.

"Not today," Optimus was happy that she was okay.

"Man… that is one ugly bug," Pyrus noticed the tentacle Spark, "I'm going to have to get it out of there if you two are going to do any damage to it."

"Are you sure you're able to," Prowl asked.

"Yeah…," she rubbed her head, "we won't be able to get out of here until that thing is dead… oh man…," she swayed back and forth in Prowl's hands.

"Whoa there," Optimus steadied her, "I think you should sit down for awhile."

"We don't have awhile," she sat up again, "If I can inject Ratchet's Operating System into the Spark without being eaten again, it should expel the virus."

"If you're going to do that, you should do it soon," Optimus noticed that the tentacles were slowly starting to gain control of themselves.

Pyrus thought for a moment, "Prowl do you think you can pin the tentacles to the walls?"

"I believe I can," Prowl glanced back at his bow.

"Optimus once they're pinned chop them off at the base," she had formulated a plan.

"I see, make it so they can't rejoin," Optimus understand her line of thinking.

"How did you know that they did that," Prowl was curious.

Pyrus shivered, "I'll… tell you later… Right now," she motioned for him to put her down, "we need to exterminate a nasty bug."

Gently setting her down on the ground, Prowl pulled out his bow. He didn't have arrows, but he knew that he didn't need them. Humming his strange little hum, a bright light appeared at his finger tips as he pulled back on an unseen string. The light took shape of a shaft with a sharp tip. Still humming, he released the light and shot out piercing its target with pinpoint accuracy. Several more arrows flew and hit their targets; pinning all the tentacles to the walls.

"I'm going in," Pyrus disappeared into the floor, "just keep doing that if new one's emerge."

"Right," Optimus held up his axe and ran towards the struggling tentacles.

With one might swing, two were sliced off from the main body. Coming back on his arc, he swung again and two more were gone. He kept swinging and swinging until there were no more.

"That's the last of them," he jumped back to a safe distance, "Pyrus," he didn't see her.

"I'm underneath the Spark," her voice called out, "I'm uploading as we speak! The virus should be forced out in about 30 seconds!"

It was much sooner than that. The red started to concentrate at the top of the Spark and seemed to overflow; leaving a clear blue color in its wake. The red poured forth and dripped onto the floor. It made a puddle around the Spark; oozing towards Optimus and Prowl. They both took a jump backwards to avoid being touched by the virus puddle.

"Is it over," Prowl asked unsure.

"Heck no," Pyrus' voice screamed, "get ready for a real fight."

Unfortunately she was right.

The red puddle began to reform and tried to engulf the Spark once again.

Optimus charged, "No you don't!"

Before he could reach it an electrical shock ran through the Spark and caused the red puddle to retreat.

"Pyrus," Optimus wondered if that was her.

"I've got Ratchet's system fully uploaded," Pyrus reported cheerfully, "and Watchdog is ready and waiting…. But…," she seem reluctant to say the rest.

"But what," Optimus wasn't expecting good news.

"… It can protect the Spark, but because there is such a massive amount of virus, it can't spread through the system with compromising its structure and protective qualities… so you guys are going to have to take care of big and nasty out there," she explained.

"I'm up of a little exercise," Prowl drew back the unseen bow string, "how about you?"

"Always," Optimus smiled.

"It should be vulnerable now," Pyrus called out, "at least you should be able to do some damage."

"Let's hope you're right," Optimus set himself for another charge.

Prowl released his energy arrows and Optimus began hack away at the red blob. It squealed and screech with every hit. It tried to slither away, but with attacks coming from every direction, there was no place for it to hide. The tentacles on the wall were responding to whatever Optimus and Prowl did to the main body of the virus. They struggled and strained to escape from Prowl's arrows, but they wouldn't budge.

"Just can't seem to hit a weak spot," Prowl was getting frustrated.

"I know, but it's getting smaller," Optimus was sure it was working, "we just have to keep on it."

Prowl nodded his head in agreement; they had to keep going. They both were on the offensive, giving the virus everything they had and more. As it got smaller, it was able to dodge their attacks. It jumped and parried with every attack.

"Okay," Pyrus materialized from the floor, "Watchdog should be able to handle the rest…," the red blob suddenly leaped at her.

The wings on her back came forward and formed a shield. It was too late. It engulfed her.

"Pyrus," Optimus reached out.

The red blob jumped and twisted around, like Pyrus was struggling to get out. The blob constricted, holding her tight inside. The tentacles on the walls suddenly came to life. Pulling and pushing, they ripped from the wall and joined with the main blob.

"That isn't good," Prowl stated the obvious.

Optimus sneered, "do you think you can contact Ratchet again!?"

"I'll try," Prowl was about to jump back to a safe distances.

The virus knew this trick. A tentacle whipped out at astonishing speed and wrapped around Prowl's waist. He pulled out his Shuriken and brought it down, but a small tendril grabbed his hands and pulled them into the blob before he could attack.

Raising his axe and charging, Optimus wasn't going to let the virus have another. Bringing down faster than he knew he could, he was sure that he freed Prowl. To his horror, the tentacle had shifted just out of his reach. It pulled Prowl hard and fast. An all too familiar scene played out before Optimus; Prowl slowly disappearing into a strange creature. There was no one there to here to help him this time… he was all alone in this battle.

"Prowl… Pyrus," a feeling of despair washed over him, "Bumblebee… I'm so sorry…"

…

"… I'm so sorry…," Sari heard a voice in her head.

"Optimus," she looked over at his still body, then to Ratchet, "did you hear that?"

"Hear what," apparently he hadn't.

Sari frowned, "I swear I just heard Optimus' voice… he said he was sorry…"

"I didn't hear anything," Ratchet was concentrating on the stats of Optimus, Prowl and Bumblebee.

"I know I heard him," she stared at Optimus.

The Key suddenly came to life and caused the screen in front of her to glow. A picture appeared; a large red blob was looming over Optimus as he swung furiously at it. Sari gasped at the sight. She wanted to say something, but the Key flew into her hands. A bright light blinded her and she felt the ground dissolve from underneath her. She opened her eyes and found herself surrounded by a blue light. Looking around, she had no idea where she was. Trying to call out to Ratchet, she found that she had no voice.

"… Sari…," a familiar voice groggily filled the air.

Sari scanned the blue area for the origin of the voice she knew all too well.

"Bumblebee," she found her voice as she looked up.

It was Bumblebee suspended in midair. Sari wanted to go up to him, but she wasn't sure how to. The Key gently started to pull her towards him, like it knew what she wanted.

"Sari," he asked again as she reached him.

"Bumblebee," she hugged his arm, "I'm so glad to see you!"

"What… what… happened," he still wasn't all with it.

"AGG," it was Optimus.

"Boss-bot," Bumblebee looked for him.

"I know you just woke up," Sari got his attention, "but you have to help Optimus. He, Prowl and Pyrus are trying to save you…"

"Who's Pyrus," he asked.

Sari shook her head, "that's not important right now! You have to help them! You have to FIGHT!"


	13. Victory

I didn't expect it to end so soon… but alas… this is the final chapter. I wrote it to the best of my abilities and I have nothing to be ashamed of. I do have some final shout outs to do, so thanks go out to TheGordonFreeman, tropicangell and Optimus Bob for some lovely reviews and of course thanks go out to those who took their time to read my story. With that I leave you…

Until next time…

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen: Victory...**

"You have to FIGHT," Sari was in tears.

"Your… your leaking," Bumblebee gently wiped them away, "I don't like it when you leak."

"I don't either," Sari smiled, "but, I really need you to get up and fight… huh?!"

Sari looked down at her hands; they seemed to be fading away. She wanted to yell, but her voice had abandoned her again.

"Sari," Bumblebee tried to grab her, but his hands just went through her.

"FIGHT," is all she could get out.

"What are you yelling 'fight' for," Ratchet asked in a grumpy manner.

"I… I just saw Bumblebee," she looked down at her hands, making sure they were all there.

"Of course you did," he grumbled, "he's only lying right over here."

"No, I mean I SAW him… in a strange blue bubble," she tried to explain, "the Key started to glow, then the computer screen showed me the Optimus was being attacked by a big red blob and then I was in the blue bubble with Bumblebee."

Ratchet sighed, "I'm not going to even try to understand what you just said… hmm," he looked closer at the screen, "something going on with Bumblebee's Spark… it's becoming conscious!"

"I got through to him," Sari held the Key in her hands, "thank you…"

…

"Fight," a soft voice faded in the chamber.

"What was that," Optimus asked out load.

The Spark started to pulse and glow. The virus stopped when it noticed the sudden change. The sinister energy that once suppressed the chamber was now being taken over by an energetic energy. It was familiar and even comforting to Optimus. He knew what it was; it was the essence of Bumblebee.

"YAAA," a battle cry came from the Spark.

Bursting forth, like spring that was tightened too much, Bumblebee flew out of the Spark. He landed close to Optimus and shot him a smile.

"Hey Boss-bot, what's up," he asked in his usual cheerfully tone.

"Not much," Optimus smirked, "just the usual giant something or another trying to destroy us."

"One difference though," Bumblebee switched to his stingers, "this is inside of me."

Optimus nodded, "yeah…"

"You know," he turned to the red blob, "after a good stasis nap, I like to kick some tailpipe!"

"Sounds good to me," he signaled a charge.

They both ran towards the blob that seemed to quiver at their presence. Optimus wasn't sure why it was so afraid now, but he was going to use it to his advantage. He chopped while Bumble zapped the pieces that came off, dissolving into nothing. The red blob was getting smaller and smaller.

"Bumblebee, time for one final attack," Optimus called out.

"Right," Bumblebee took aim at Optimus' axe.

His stingers came alive with electricity. The yellow energy traveled through the air and hit Optimus' axe. It began to glow with a yellow light. He had to make this attack count. It was Bumblebee's, Prowl's, Pyrus' and his Sparks on the line. He felt them all… their strength, their will... they were all with him, even Sari, Ratchet and Bulkhead. They were all rooting for him.

"AGGG," he brought his axe down on the remained of the red blob.

It sliced it right in two, right down the middle, almost perfectly symmetrical. The two halves fell to the floor, dissolving as they fell. Prowl fell to one side and Pyrus to the other.

"Prowl! Pyrus," Optimus called out.

The chamber faded…

"Prime," someone was yelling at him, "wake up!"

"Huh," he slowly opened his optics, "where are we…?"

"Welcome back to the real world," Sari was smiling over him, "did you have a good nap?"

"I've had better…," he shot up, "Where's Prowl!? Pyrus! Is she alright!? Bumblebee…" Ratchet threw him back down.

"They're fine…," Ratchet wasn't to convincing.

"What's wrong," Optimus could read in his face.

"It's Pyrus… she's… she's…," Ratchet turned away.

"She's what," he feared the worse.

"She's extremely ticked off," Pyrus yelled.

Ratchet smirk, "which seems to be worse than if she went offline."

"You're going to wish I had gone offline," she huffed.

"Yup, definitely worse," Sari smiled.

Optimus smiled, he just couldn't be mad. They were victorious and everyone was okay. It wasn't a time to be mad; it was a time to be thankful. He closed his optics and let his processor drift.

Two days later…

It was quiet and calm that night. Bumblebee and Bulkhead were still confined to Med Bay for repairs. Pyrus assisted Ratchet with circuitry repair and exacting of Ratchet's Operating System; though he wanted keep it as part of their normal operations. Pyrus thought that their newer systems might crash if they keep running on it. He grumbled, but found a little joy in the fact the both Bumblebee and Bulkhead (especially Bumblebee) would have to remain under until all repairs were made.

There wasn't much more to do; nothing more the Pyrus could do or at least she wanted to do. She more or less sat in the Med Bay on her computer, listening to Ratchet and his rants. She didn't seem to mind and he like that someone was willing to sit and tolerated him for hours on end.

"Well, that's all that can be done for the day," Ratchet sighed, "have to wait and see how their systems are in the morning. How are their scans?"

"Everything is within normal and there is no trace of virus," she reported, "Watchdog is in place and your system is uninstalled."

"Good," Ratchet happy with the results, "you going to… as you organics call it 'sleep'?"

"I might go catch a few Zs," she snorted, "or as you bots say it, go take a stasis nap."

"That sounds good," Ratchet agreed.

Pyrus stretched, "you napping in here again?"

"Oh course," he sat down on a make shift chair, "you sleeping in the main room?"

"Where else," she jumped down from the table.

They said their goodnights, though Ratchet never really got the point of it. Pyrus exited from Med Bay with the door closing behind her. The hallway was dark with a very dim light to light her way. Not that she minded. She worked better at night. Though she use to sleeping during the day, her ritual was a little off since she was helping Ratchet with repairs. It was fine for the most part; just something that pops up on the occasion.

"There is no more work for me to do," she started to talk to herself, "I should just leave. I've been in the city too long… somebody might pick up on me…," she passed Sari's room, "the kid's alright now that her friends are okay. Can't believe I helped them out… though… I can't believe that my bug got out. I'll have to investigate that when I get set up at my next location… still haven't decided where to go yet," she pondered for a moment, then shook her head, "can't think well… head still a little fuzzy… oh well."

She wasn't going to let the funny feeling in her head get the better of her. It was most likely from being swallowed by the virus twice. Things were just jumbled in her head. She was thinking that maybe she should stay with the Autobots until things were clearer, but it wasn't in her nature to be in or want to be in a group. People are people's own worst enemy, at least that's what she thought. Then again, they were alien robots and she was just a little 8 year old girl… nah… she wanted the open road and new sights. Hanging around with big robots and a kid wouldn't sit too well with her after about a week or two… maybe not even that. No, it was time for her to leave.

"I'll just pack up my computers and go," she continued down the hallway.

…

VROOM! A loud motorcycle passed by the windows in Sari's room. It was so loud; it had to be right next to the building. The windows rattled and woke Sari up.

"Huh," she looked around with sleepy eyes, "what was that."

Pulling the covers off, she hopped out of bed to see what was going on. She opened her door quietly so she didn't disturb anyone. It was pretty late to be walking around, but she was awake now. The hallway was dark, but there was enough light for her to see where she was going. The TV monitor was glowing like it had just been turned off.

"Pyrus… you out here," she called softly.

There was no answer.

Sari headed for the couch where she had been sleeping for the last few nights. To her surprise, there was only a pillow with a folded up blanket on it.

"Pyrus," she looked around, "Pyrus!"

There was still no answer.

"What's going on Sari? Is everything alright," Optimus came out in a rush.

"It's Pyrus! She's not here," Sari pointed to the pillow and blanket, "and I heard just a motorcycle. I think she left."

It didn't surprise Optimus for some odd reason. She didn't seem to want to stay. She only did either to help out Ratchet or out of curiosity. The job that he had asked of her was over; therefore there was no need to stay.

"It was not to be," Prowl entered the room, "she is one that goes with her own way. From what I have observed, humans prefer to be in groups, while Pyrus does not. Being here… most likely, was uncomfortable for her. It's best to let her go. Let her be what she is."

Sari looked from him to the empty couch. She wished that Pyrus had stay, even if it was only for a day. They were really starting to get along; at least Sari thought they had.

"You think she'll ever come back," she asked.

Optimus sighed, "I don't know."

"She'll be back," Sari cheered herself up, "she said she's a curious type. I bet she will want learn more about you guys… yeah she'll be back."

Optimus and Prowl both smiled. Sari was right, Pyrus would be back; she was just too curious to stay away.

* * *

So that's it. That's the End…

Of Part One… that is if people want a Part Two.

If not, then this is really it.


	14. Author's Note

**Author's Announcement**

For all those that are familiar with me and my stories, you know this is not a good thing when I have a chapter with "Author" in it. For all that don't… well… it means that I have come to a decision about this story. No, I'm not taking it down… I really like it. However, Part II isn't quite going the way I want it to and I don't feel it's up to the best of my abilities.

I'm going to take down the last few chapters, rework them and repost them in a story called: Pyrus Virus: Decepticon.

I feel like it would be way too long if I continue to post in one story. I had planned to make this a trilogy anyway and the idea of about 40 or so chapters… well… I wouldn't want to read it.

So, by the time you read this, the newest chapters will be down and this will be replaced by a new "Author's Note" page in about a week or two. As for replies and complaints, I would prefer for you to send a PM to me instead of a review.

As for the second story, that will go up in a little bit. Not sure, since I'm still in school and work is trying to kill me… so… yeah.

My final words on the matter are "I'm So Sorry". I don't mean to do this, but I go back and read my stories and start to hate my creations. Again, I'm sorry and will try to get the second story up and running as soon as possible. Hope you don't hate me too much.

DuskStarDragon


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